


Tale as Old as Time

by pandabrite



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: AU, Beauty and the Beast AU, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Canon Divergent, M/M, taakitz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-03-01 05:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13287690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandabrite/pseuds/pandabrite
Summary: A Taakitz-centric spin on Beauty and the Beast. Lup is captured in a Necromantic trap by a bestial, undead spirit only known as Kravitz. Taako swaps places with his sister, and is caught in a trap much more complicated than he could have ever imagined. Can charm and wit save him from a monster possessed by the souls of the damned?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello, hello, welcome to my au. this is just a short intro-chapter, and this is also my first chapter fic! i have a lot of twists and turns in mind, so i hope y'all dig it~ 
> 
> hi there, this is future me coming back to say, wow, thank you guys so much for enjoying this fic as much as y'all seem to! i've gotten some dope art and wonderful comments and i just can't say thank you enough! there's some art in this chapter from my very good friend, miane, tumblr user karamips-art aaaaaand some art from my wonderful husband nick, nickleerie, who is also on tumblr!

_For the first time in years, Lup was lost._

She had been following a path through a familiar stretch of woods that she and Taako had traversed many times in their lives… for these trails, these roads, they were their home. And yet, as blistering winds cut through her robes and snowflakes stuck to her hair and her clothes, she came to the startling realization that she truly had no idea where she was.

Even with her keen sense of elven perception, she couldn’t figure out how she diverged from her path. She’d taken a straight shot through the woods that had always guided them to safe harbor on the trade roads in the valley… and it should have been only a day trip, there and back.

There was a package in her bag to be delivered to the next town over. Simple mercenary work, but it was enough to give them coins in their pockets and gain them respite for a few days. Winters were tough for those who lived on the road-- Taako’s penchant for cooking could only give them so many days of hospice in inns and homes before they were expected to pay actual coin.

Lup’s train of thought was cut off by a particularly strong torrent of wind that threatened to knock her off of her feet. The weather was much worse than predicted, sleet intermingling with wet snowflakes that pelted her with unrelenting force.

“ _Fuck_ , she mumbled under her breath, pressing forward down her path, though she knew not where it led. But her logic followed that all paths had to lead somewhere, right? It wasn’t particularly well worn like the wagon trails merchants frequented, but there were still subtle signs of travel.

She felt cold in her bones, nose numb to the elements as she continued an arduous march down a road she had no idea where led. It only took a few more minutes of slogging along for her to realize… something actually was _truly amiss._

Elves were much more attuned to their surroundings than other races, particularly when it came to the vibrations of magic that permeated most things in the world they lived… in this case, she suddenly felt around her touches of necrotic magic, dark energy of the dead that left her stomach turned in unease.

“O… kay, not _great_ ,” she mumbled to herself, hand on the wand she kept holstered on her hip, “can we maybe _not_ , please..?”

She had stopped in her tracks at her realization, gaze sharply sweeping the forest before and behind her, wondering what she should do next… go back? Keep pressing forward? If there were necrotic energy down the path she travelled currently, then surely… _surely_ necromancers weren’t far behind… and while Lup was the _last_ person to make assumptions about people, generally speaking, strolling right up into a Necromancer’s camp in the middle of the night was not a _great_ thing to do.

“Alright. Fuck this.” She hissed, turning on a booted heel to head back the way she came, determination fueling her exhausted and freezing body onward… only… she realize with a start that the way she was travelling now, the path she had _taken_ to get here… was now wrong, too.

_Uphill._ She’d been travelling uphill. For at least a mile.

… and yet this path also went uphill.

Lup snarled in frustration, slamming a foot down on the cold Earth… she had gotten herself into a mess, but she _had_ to get back. She and Taako had secured a bed and a warm fire for only a few nights, and _only_ under the agreement that Lup both deliver her package and return with payment to the innkeeper.

She couldn’t leave Taako high and dry. _She wouldn’t._

So she continued. She walked, though she knew the path she travelled was wrong. There was nothing else she could do. And as she pressed on, she felt deepening cold. The temperature dropped at a frightening pace in direct congruence with the whispers of dark, necrotic magic that increased in intensity with each step she took.

Was this a trap? A cleverly laid magical ruse?

The cold was taking its toll. She felt her legs numb, her face chapped and even her slender, elven ears could only escape the cold in her robe’s hood for so long. She felt as though she could sit down and go to sleep, and that was the worst sign of them all. The cold was an unrelenting and dangerous foe. It spirited people away every day... and Lup refused to lose to the temptation to quit.

She needed to find shelter. Somewhere. Something. _Anything_.

Her knees were shaking, her hands and arms were so numb that she could hardly hold them around her own body anymore, though even that gesture provided her no comfort. She was a competent enough wizard to light a fire, certainly, but with the amount of wind and precipitation storming around her, she would burn through her energy maintaining it within a few hours and be left with nothing.

“Fuck… No. No no no.” She repeated to herself through numb, chapped lips. She couldn’t and wouldn’t give up. Taako needed her. She needed to be there for him. They needed each other. She wouldn’t die out here, alone in the woods.

She found within herself enough energy to crest the top of a hill, and when she did, she froze in shock.

Lup realized she’d come upon a clearing… and down a steep slope, littered with crumbling, cobblestone steps, there sat a dilapidated castle.

… a… fuckin’ castle..?

_Since when?_

Lup stared in confused awe at the immense, and very dead, garden that sprawled forth at the bottom of the hill. It spread in what would be a grandiose way from the iron gates that surrounded the weathered castle. The stones of the building itself were worn, an entire tower collapsed to the hands of time. There seemed to be no one there, and didn’t appear there had been anyone there in quite some time.

But… it also _wasn’t supposed to be here._

The twins had travelled every road in Faerûn at least once… and never in the entire time they’d frequented this area had anyone ever mentioned a castle, or royalty of any sort.

And though uncertainty rooted her, the need for shelter won out over the senses that would give her caution. It could be a trap… she _knew_ it could be a trap. Though, the necrotic energy had neither increased nor decreased in the last while... but even if this place were home to necromancers or evil spirits, she would just cross that bridge when she got to it, she reckoned.

She had to.

Shelter from the cold that threatened to drain the life from her bones was more important.

So Lup took the steep steps down toward the castle, and as she approached the tall, gilded gateway to the interior, she hesitated once more.

Her hand was on her wand. She had no reason to fear. She could fight whatever she must. She was brave and she was powerful and she was _dangerous._ More dangerous than anything that could be hiding inside, because she had someone to fight for.

And so, after that pause to collect herself, she pushed the doors open with a loud creak. There was naught but darkness to be found within, and as she entered, the doors slowly swung shut behind her.

… and as they did, the noise and the cold of the storm died away.

Relief seeped through her instantly, the lack of biting wind and slush an instant improvement, despite the frigid cold of the interior. She decided to use this place as a means to recover and decide what her next course of action would be.

It happened to be her _only_ available option, really.

With her wand alight with a flickering flame, she began to explore the grand main hall of the quiet and ruined palace. There were pictures here and there on the walls, but they had yellowed and peeled over time… broken statues littered the floor, remnants of opulent decoration that stared silently into the darkness. Great stones that dislodged from the walls as the years marched on lay in crumbles on once meticulously placed marble floor.

The main hallway lead into a room with a grand staircase, and to the left was a tall door which led to a den that may have been at one time cozy. It, like everything else in the castle, was weathered by time. But even though the armchairs were so dilapidated that it made no sense to sit in them, there was a _fireplace_ , which was all Lup needed.

She hunkered down and got to work-- she could nurse her magic much more easily here, and perhaps get a bit of sleep before heading back out to face whatever magical force was fucking with her… because it had to be, right? It was the only thing that made sense. An illusion to trap wayward travellers, perhaps..?

Her senses were on edge, even here, as she allowed flames to lick her palms.

… Lup never got a chance to start that fire.

Right as she began to mold the flames she was producing into the cold mantle, her magic abruptly vanished. It was as if it were sucked right out of her body. Her stunned face was cast into cold darkness as her magic, the very core of her being, was suppressed by a necrotic force so powerful that it felt like her lungs might collapse under the pressure.

“FUCK,” she barked, throwing herself to her feet. And though she had darkvision, she could see nothing. Nothing but pitch black around her as she fumbled back a pace or two-- what was this?

She could feel it clearly now-- Necromantic energy practically poured from every surface in this building. Cold tendrils of wayward spirits and dark entities licked at her heels, her face-- she took several startled paces back, a short sword drawn from her hip, as her wand was obviously useless.

Before she had a chance to do anything else, her arms were snapped to her sides by a cold force she had no hope to fight. A pair of crimson eyes burned through the darkness, casting then the only light in the room, bathing her and the creature that now stood before her in a horrifying relief.

A great, canid skull hovered before her, black mist pouring through opened fangs. A tattered cloak billowed around the stark white of the creature’s maw, and violent, red eyes burned straight through Lup.

“W-who- the hell are y-”

Before she could say anything else, the spectral creature chuckled, the sound a dull hiss escaping from sharp teeth. Skeletal, clawed hands drew up, and a scythe materialized from seemingly nowhere.

As the spectral figure prepared to strike, a smooth cockney accent drawled from its open maw--

“ _Really sorry to have to do this to you, love._ ”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lup fails to return from what should be a simple mercenary mission, Taako finds himself on the road to find her. In doing so, he finds himself in a much worse situation than he ever could have imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for all the positive feedback for chapter one! i'm so grateful for all the nice comments and just general interest in this idea~ i've decided that updates will go up on fridays, so keep an eye out for those! hope y'all enjoy~

Taako woke with a start. **  
**

It was sometime just before dawn. Rose colored the sky outside the dirty window of the inn room he’d been sharing with Lup. Rough wool sheets were tangled around his legs, upper body thrown upright by some nightmare vision he couldn’t remember now.

He was breathing heavily, and his gaze darted about the room, searching for some answer, some clue as to why he was suddenly awake without any warning… but, of course, no answer came.

“Jeeze,” he mumbled to himself. How frustrating… he couldn’t shake the worry that pressed the back of his mind.

The feeling that something was off. The feeling that something had happened.

Taako didn’t bother trying to go back to sleep, though he’d been sorely tempted. Instead, he threw on some clothes and made his way down to the small kitchen of the inn. Part of their payment for staying, after all, was his cooking services, which in itself was no big deal, though he sort of felt like he wasn’t getting an equitable split in this transaction.

This place was a fuckin’  _dump_ , and his cooking was ab-sol-utely too good for it.

_Que-sera-sera._

He did what he had to do to keep them a roof over their heads, just like Lup did. Lup, who was out delivering some parcel to the next town over so the lazy-ass inn-keeper didn’t have to do it himself. Or, like, just  _mail_  it like a normal person. It was probably something dubious in nature, but the twins didn’t really have time to worry about the legalities of all that in the whirlwind of their lives.

Taako did his duties without much complaint, though there was _puh-lenty_  to complain about. The dirty kitchen, the old, dull knives and worn out utensils… the pots with no lids, the questionable state of some of their should-be staple ingredients. Like, this wasn’t a five-star joint, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was kind of hard to create palatable food when the very foundation he had to work with was shaky.

He had some of his own tools, of course, but he was sort of loathe to waste them in a place like this. Wowing the patrons would be worth it, in some intangible sense, but on the other hand he saw no need to break out the big guns for a bunch of surly fellows who probably wouldn’t  _appreciate_  the finery of his work.

All things considered, admittedly, he was a bit distracted this morning. Something had settled in his gut that left him ill-at-ease, and he couldn’t explain exactly what that was. He had nothing to worry about, so why worry at all?

Right..?

Breakfast was finished, and after serving it to a few bedraggled travellers and surly regulars, he retreated to the kitchen to set aside some food for Lup when she returned from her trip. The walk to the next city was simple enough, a few winding merchant trails that were mostly unhindered by gerblins or vagabonds, and even if they were, it was nothing Lup couldn’t handle.

She’d be back in the next little bit, he reckoned, and they’d net a few more days of reprise from her work.

… Except the next little bit came and went with no Lup.

It was drawing close to noon, and Taako had taken to pacing the front foyer of the inn, fingers worrying against each other as his eyes darted from his own feet to the door leading to outside.

_Where was Lup?_

There had never been any need to worry about her when she went on these mercenary trips for hire. She was capable and strong, and so thick skinned that she faced every obstacle with reckless abandon and optimism… she always came back when she said she would. She kept her promises, and was steadfast and reliable.

So where was she now?

_Why wasn’t she back?_

Taako’s thoughts were interrupted by a gravelled voice from behind him, which startled him from a spiral of negativity--

The innkeeper, an older, portly figured human man, had approached with a less than amiable gait to his step.

“Listen, I dunno what games you elves are playin’, but I’m gonna need someone to pay up for that package if the lady don’t come back.”

Taako’s hands instantly lifted, and he took a defensive and also casual-as-he-could step back, “Woah, coooool your jets, she’ll be back.”

“Uh-huh,” he grunted, jabbing a finger right toward Taako’s chest, “it’s a day trip at best, she shoulda been back by now. I swear, if y’all made off with my crap you’re gonna--”

“Listen listen _listen_ ,” Taako interrupted, “as  _tempting_  as that, uh, super sketch package was for us to pocket, what good would that do us? We’re just looking for a roof over our heads for a bit, that’s all. She-- uh, she must just be hung up... To-took the scenic route, eh?”

“You’re gonna be taking the scenic route right into the ditch out back if you don’t cough up the money for that delivery before the day’s over with.”

For a rather non threatening looking man, he sure seemed to mean it. Taako did his very best to look as though he took the threat seriously, backing yet another step away from him.

“I’m reading you loud and clear,” he urged, “look, I don’t know what’s taking her, but… I-- she’ll be here. If she doesn’t show by tonight, you’ll get your money. Level with me here, do I look like a _liar_?”

The innkeeper lifted a brow.

“-- oh-kay, on second thought, don’t answer that. Point is-- uh, _scout’s honor_ , or whatever you want, right? I’ll be in the room, um… upstairs, you know, where _my_ room… is…” Taako was backing away, though the shrewd eyes of the innkeeper never left him as he inched his way to the stairs and then turned to take them in twos back up to the reprieve of their shitty little room.

And as soon as he was in that room, his hands flew up and grabbed his face. Taako wasn’t one for extreme emotional outbursts, but right now all he could think about was Lup.

Where was his sister? Why hadn’t she come back yet? What happened?

The irrational part of his mind panicked, the thought of something bad having happened to her too much for him to really comprehend, but then the more rational part of his mind kicked in-- Lup was probably fine. She was strong enough to handle anything this world could throw at her, right? Maybe she got hung up somewhere, but there was no way she was in any serious trouble.

_Right?_

Regardless, Taako knew he couldn’t go back downstairs. That was a big, huge yikes. So, rather than face that shitty innkeeper again, he packed up both his and Lup’s bags and headed for the small, dirty window that provided only the slightest of light from outside.

And out he went. He slipped through as quietly as he could, and before he could get off the ledge, he cast featherfall-- and down he drifted.

After landing and assessing his belongings to make sure he had everything-- ugh, he’d have to carry two bags worth of stuff-- he headed off in the direction he knew Lup had to have headed.

He wouldn’t worry until he couldn’t find her.

At least, that was what he kept telling himself. They’d bring the delivery money back to the inn and kick it for a few more days before leaving this crapshoot village. Everything was going to go just like it was intended. Everything was chill. 

Taako was good. Lup was good.

Admittedly, it wasn’t the best sign in the world that he had to keep repeating that to himself as he headed down the smoothed out path through the woods. A soft and very light dusting of snow was melted away here and there, and crunched beneath his boots as he traveled.

The weather obviously hadn’t been bad enough the night before to hold her up, so that was out.

There had been no reports of any ruffians or monsters near the villages, and even if so, no monster that could possibly inhabit these woods would stand a chance against Lup, so that was also out.

Had she just decided to kick it in the next town for a bit? It didn’t seem likely… she was fairly prompt when it came to returning to him, because he wasn’t super fond of being alone… which he would never admit, not to anyone on this whole damn planet, not even to Lup, but she  _knew_ , and that was all that mattered.

Taako chewed the inside of his cheek, nose wrinkled as he let his thoughts wander here and there, escaping his attempt to keep them in check and meandering into a much more vividly negative tone… what if she had just left? What if his dismissive goodbye from the night before was the last time he saw his sister?

“Can you not?” He mumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

He was about halfway down the path when something caught his eye… though, once he stopped to investigate, he… wasn’t really sure what it was?

_Something_ had flickered in the corner of his vision. He was so damn sure he’d seen it, though now, looking at his surroundings, there was nothing there. But Taako Taaco was too shrewd to let it go, and took several paces back to examine the scene again.

It had happened in a blink of an eye. He’d seen _something_  that wasn’t right. Something that didn’t belong there. Something that wasn’t trees and fading sunlight and snow.

He placed his hands on his hips, head cocked to the side… there didn’t seem to be anything out of place now, but his gut felt out of sorts, and he’d eaten his own cooking this morning, so getting a wild case of the shits was totally ruled out.

But even as he hemmed and hawed about what he’d sensed, he found nothing, and eventually gave up.

However, Taako had a gift-- and that gift was his wildly perceptive arcane senses. He and his sister were always at odds about just how perceptive Taako was, compared to her. She was stronger, sure, but Taako had a keen eye for things out of place, for magic where it shouldn’t be.

And so as he began to walk again, something hit his senses like a brick.

Necrotic magic.

It was only there for the briefest of moments, but it was enough to send a chill through his entire system that left him rooted in one spot. His ears were perked, senses alert, breath held in his chest as he listened, as he watched, as he searched.

And what he saw made his heart sink.

There, before himself, almost like being seen in double vision, was a perfect duplicate of the path he had been travelling. It was as if someone had sat a copy painted on glass right over his eyes … it was slightly offset, hazy, blurred and barely in his vision. He sensed it more than saw it, but it was  _there_. It burned with ill intent. It felt wrong, and it felt evil.

… That was where Lup was.

Yeah, suddenly, there was no doubt in Taako’s mind. This was the only thing that made sense. The logic tracked. If Lup hadn’t returned, it was because of this,  _whatever it was._ This anomaly that was just unexpected enough to catch Lup off guard, that felt just sinister enough to be an actual threat.

A little spooked, Taako rocked on his heels, hesitating even at his realization. Did he… fuck, he had to go in there, didn’t he? Of all the things he definitely didn’t want to do, this was on the top of the list… but, on the other hand, on the list of things he definitely DID want to do, finding Lup was also on the top.

And so, after steeling his courage a bit, he adjusted his step, he held his breath, he focused all of his magical senses, all of his cunning and accuracy, and stepped off the beaten path and toward this strange, illusory trail that burned his peripherals.

As soon as his body crossed the threshold, he was hit with cold. Bitter, biting, violent cold that tore through his cloak. Wind whipped his hair over his shoulder, and it pressed so hard against his body that the rest of him threatened to follow.

“Hol-y- shit-” Taako growled through grit teeth, a hand grasping a tree nearby for support. This… this wasn’t right. Obviously. No dug. What was it, though? Some kind of necrotic trap in the middle of the woods? They’d traveled this path many, many times before, but neither of them had ever sensed this, had ever encountered something so poignantly evil.

He looked around, searching for some answers that were, of course, not found. Never could be that simple, could it?

Taako wondered vaguely to himself what the hell he was getting himself into. The energy of this place burned with darkness, and was so cold it already chilled him to the bone. A snowstorm from nowhere made no sense, but then again, neither did a fucking portal to a hell scape in the middle of the woods.

He had no choice. He was here. He pressed on.

He had supplies, if he needed them, but not enough to keep him safe in this monstrosity of a dimension… which is what he assumed this to be. Some sort of mirror dimension to their own, though, not the ethereal plane, but… something else, perhaps?

God, it was fuckin’ cold.

What was he thinking about again..?

Taako cursed under his breath, distracted by ice clinging to his now numb nose, too distracted to keep a clear head… he focused now only on finding Lup. He had to press forward with determination that he didn’t have to try and find his sister, because if he didn’t find her, then…

Well, he didn’t want to keep following that train of thought, if he was being honest with himself.

He’d find her. She was here, somewhere. He knew it. He didn’t know exactly how he could tell, but he  _knew._

Taako’s path took twists and turns that made no sense. He looped back upon where he knew he had already been twice… he headed uphill and then up the same hill again. Was that what this was? A loop? An endless cycle that would keep him trapped forever?

Well, great. He’d sure leapt headfirst into some straight up horse shit, huh? What was he supposed to do about this?

As he trudged on, he got colder and colder, he suffered more and more.

And right when he reached the point at which he thought he could stand no more… when he was feeling desperation for an end to arrive clutch at his heart, he came upon the top of a hill… and down that hill, down a winding set of crumbling stairs, fringed by a frozen and very dead garden was a castle.

Taako was rooted in place.

So… for sure this was an illusion of some kind, right? Because there sure as hell had never been one of those before, not anywhere around here.

Taako looked around, grimacing, the realization that he definitely had to go in there one he definitely wasn’t, like, super duper crazy about… but what else was he supposed to do? If Lup had been here, which he felt as though she had, she would have certainly went in as well.

And he was more than sure that was the whole point.

This was one big, stinking trap.

Well, he was already ankle deep in bullshit, he might as well go big or go home, right? And the twisting anxiety in his stomach that reminded him he had no clue where Lup was and what had happened to her led him along, despite not particularly being fond of the idea.

And so he found himself pushing his weight against the grand doorway gate, and as it opened, he was careful to be as quiet as possible, though hardly anything could drown out the sound of the winter storm outside.

The door creaked shut behind him, and the room was cast into an eerily quiet stillness… there was no sound, not even of the raging storm outside. The inside was just as, erm, cozy as the outside had been… quite a quaint little arrangement of wreckage littered the front passageway.

Even with darkvision, it was still overwhelmingly dark. He could barely see in front of himself as he wandered the front of the castle, ears perked, senses alert for… something. Anything. Any sign of Lup… and at first, he found none.

That was… until he stumbled into a room off of a dilapidated, but once grand staircase… Outside the room, staining the dusty marble floor, were smears of deep crimson. The door hung open, and though he was loathe to do so, he pushed it the rest of the way open.

There, on the ground, staining the carpet, were great blotches of congealed, darkened blood. A sword lay abandoned on the floor, and Taako’s heart filled with white hot dread. Lup’s sword. It was one hundred percent Lup’s sword. There was no doubt-- they’d stolen it when they were very young off of a thief who had tried to ambush them… He picked it up, weighing the cold blade in his hands.

Lup.

Fuck.

_**Lup.** _

Taako felt urgency build in his stomach, which twisted and turned with nausea at the various images, the possibilities of things that could have happened. Something here was malicious. Something here had his sister.

_God. Fucking. Dammmit._

He turned on his heel and rushed out of the room. The smeared blood he’d sighted first outside the door continued, as if she had been unceremoniously drug from the room along the floor.

Ice ran through Taako’s veins. He could feel the blood pumping in his head, a dull throb of adrenaline and panic as he rushed after the trail.

Old. It was congealed, sticky, and old.

“You had better be alive,” he hissed to himself, rounding a corner to a stone door, which he shoved open with strength he didn’t know he had… the ornate decor of the castle ended here with a set of stone stairs that led down a roughly hewn stone passageway.

Taako hurried with as much swiftness as he could manage. His surroundings were a blur. What was happening was a blur. He wasn’t worried about danger, which was quite out of character for Taako, he was only worried about Lup. He was worried about the one fucking person in this world he truly gave a damn about.

The stairs abruptly came to an end.

His boots hit the floor with a dull echo, and despite the fact he was panting, despite the fact that he was panicked, he rushed forward.

Because there, curled in a dungeon cell, locked away in this cold threshold lay Lup.

Taako skid to a stop outside the bars that trapped her, wheezing a desperate gasp as he leaned as close as he could, “Lup-- Dammit, please, answer me,  _Lup._ ”

At first, she didn’t stir… but the sound of Taako’s voice, the weight of his presence, the warmth of familiarity he brought with him roused her from where she was collapsed on her stomach… Her face lifted from the stone, and their eyes met… Taako’s panicked gaze and Lup’s gaze of relief, which swiftly shifted to horror at the realization that he was here.

“Taako--” Lup pushed herself up off of the floor a bit, though she didn’t get far before the pain of her injury, which Taako could see now, knocked her back to the floor. Her torso was torn open, her blood smeared the floor where she lay, but even still, she steeled herself, she found her voice, “-- you’ve got to fucking go. You’ve got to get out of here. You can’t stay here.”

“Um, like hell I’m leaving without you,” Taako rolled his eyes, as if she’d just said the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard, “we’re leaving together. Let me bust you out.”

“You-- you  _can’t_ , listen to me. This place is poisoned. This place is fucking _sick._ No magic will work here. If he catches you, you’ll end up just like me. You’ve got to go. Please, Taako, I’m begging you, please  _please_  go.” The desperation in her voice was so uncharacteristic that it held Taako’s tongue for a moment, his gaze flickering between her pained and intense gaze.

“Listen… I get what you’re saying, but no can do… I… I’m not leaving you here.” 

He busied himself with the lock of the cell, and after confirming what Lup said about his magic not working, he rummaged around in their bags and found a set of old lockpick tools. He wasn’t particularly adept at lock picking, that was sort of what magic did for him, but he was determined to at least try.

Lup looked outright exasperated, and with her nails dug into the stone floor, she drug herself toward Taako, “Please, I know you’re thick headed as hell, I know you don’t want to listen to me, but if you don’t leave now, we’ll both die. We’ll both be trapped here. We--”

“We’ll get out, we always get out.” Taako had interrupted her, but she didn’t quite concede just yet.

“-- we can’t both die here. You-- I can figure this out, I--”

She suddenly froze, words caught in her throat… Her expression shifted from frustration to panic, and with strength she hadn’t shown before, she pushed herself completely off of the ground and staggered toward the bars, toward Taako.

“Woah-- woah, don’t--” Taako didn’t get to finish what he was saying, before a cool, drawled Cockney accent interrupted him from behind.

_“Really shoulda listened to the lady, you know. She’s not wrong. You’re both going to die here.”_

Taako froze as well, meeting Lup’s terrified gaze with his own, breath caught in his throat as they shared a private moment of true fear.

… but he swallowed that fear. He had to. He pushed a casual expression onto his face, and after staring at Lup hard, desperately searching for courage from her, he turned to face the speaker… Lup’s attacker.

[ ](http://nickleerie.tumblr.com/post/172640758836/tale-as-old-as-time-she-suddenly-froze-words)

In semi darkness, bright red eyes burned from a great, white, wolven skull… tattered robes swirled all around a spectral form which loomed menacingly, which bore into Taako’s face with an expression inscrutable.

“So, um,” Taako began, finding his voice after a briefly squeaked start, “hoo, boy, sorry about that, little spooked, for sure… um, hello there. I… well, I would say pleasure to meet you, but I guess that’s sort of not the right mood, huh?”

Taako was greeted with absolute silence for what felt like forever before the fanged mouth of the creature slid open. He backed against the bars of the cell behind him in response, but instead of a roar, instead of an attack, a smooth chuckle rolled out of his gaping maw.

“No… really, it’s kind of not. You’re dead on there,” the ghastly being edged closer, hovering effortlessly over the floor toward Taako, “sort of glad you’re appropriately spooked, but um, the small talk? Sort of weird, have to admit. Not that that really changes anything.”

“Well, I mean,” Taako swallowed, “that doesn’t  _have_  to be true, right? I mean, between you and me, you’ve got the whole ‘horrifying monstrosity’ thing down pat, but, uh… I think it’s the accent that’s sort of killing it for me, you feel? Like, the whole Michael Caine vibe you’re giving off diminishes the horror you could be dishing out right now. You go from a 10, no, um, maybe more like a 12 out of ten on the spook scale to like a solid 7. Not bad, but, for  _sure_  you could do better.”

The spectral beast seemed affronted, even despite having no face to truly emote, “I… what-- my voice? Is that what we’re doing here? Listen, you don’t really… I don't think you’re really in a place to be insulting me, do you?”

“I mean, no insult intended my good man, just… a little pointer, just something to pocket, a freebie, from me to you,” Taako gave a brief finger gun, but even despite the cool facade he put on, his hands were visibly shaking.

“I’ll… okay, sure, I’ll remember that. But, niceties aside… not that those were particularly… nice, um, you’re still sort of in a situation, right? I don’t really feel like I need to explain to you how much trouble you’re in right now. You can talk all you want, but that’s not going to change that you sort of just wandered right in here, into the jaws of the beast, eh?”

Taako grit his teeth, but his stance remained casual, gaze darting from horrifying monster to the door leading out of the dungeon, to horrifying monster, to… the hand that had slid through the bars of the cell and was grasping his own.

“Cute,” the beast drawled, before making a noise akin to clearing his throat, “look, let me level with you here. I sort of... _hate_  having to do this, but I don’t have a choice. There’s nothing I can do to help you now, not what with you just prancing in here of your own will. Didn’t expect two, sort of throwing me for a loop, there being two of you… but, what can I do?”

“Well,” Taako remained quiet for a moment, and his hand twisted on Lup’s fingers, squeezing so tightly it hurt, “let me pick out a few key phrases there. You… uh, weren’t expecting two, right? So… like, I get that this is sort of a perk, me… being here, used to that I guess, but… listen, if you only expected to have one of us, why not--”

“No. No no,” the beast swirled closer to Taako, fanged jaws only a few inches from his face, “I know what you’re going to say. We… you… I can’t believe you… do you  _really_  think you’re in a position to  _barter_  with me?”

“You did say you hate having to do this,” Taako pointed out, though his voice was weak, gaze darting between two violently glowing eyes, just inches from his face.

“Yeah, I did… but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to. I’ve got no choice, you don’t… look, I don’t have the time of day to explain anything to you. Can’t, really, even if I wanted to. I know you’re talking out your ass to buy time, but there’s no point.”

“I mean, there’s a point. There’s a… listen, I… let me just put it out there, you can take it or leave it, let me… let me take her place.” Taako’s voice edged with a sincerity that seemed to surprise the spectral figure before him.

Lup’s voice suddenly sounded from behind Taako, “Absolutely fucking not. Are you kidding me, Taako?”

“Hush,” Taako hissed, “just-- I… look, if either of us is out there, if one of us has a shot, it’s gotta be you. Not me.”

“No,” Lup shook her head violently, and her other hand shot through the bars to grab Taako’s only free hand, “you… you don’t just get to sacrifice yourself for me, you big idiot.”

“Ahem,” the beast tapped a clawed finger on Taako’s chin, rousing him from the hushed argument with his sister, “I… you do both know I’m right here. Like, I can  _hear_  you… Right? I... “

“I’m serious,” Taako interrupted him, and with a steadfastness he hadn’t yet shown before, he stepped forward, closer to the beast, “I’m more serious right now than probably a good, uh, 95% of my life. Please,” he hesitated, “please take me instead of her. She’s hurt, unwilling, I’ll… do whatever you want, my man, no questions asked.”

“Taako, you can’t do this-- I won’t let you--”

The spectral monster watched the both of them now, drawn back a touch from the approaching elf before him… from this  _Taako_  who was looking at him with a serious facade, this _Taako_  who was quivering from his head to his toes, who held a dread in his gaze that went so deeply it touched even his own soul… well, what there was of it.

“... Ugh,” a skeletal hand slapped over the bestial face, “you really are putting me in a position here. I… you don’t understand what’s happening, I don’t… like, I don’t really get to make these decisions…”

“What, you’re not in charge here?” Taako lifted a brow, “because, I mean, I can leverage my offer with someone else, whoever else, I got no qualms with that.”

“It… doesn’t really work that way…”

“Tell me how it works then.”

“I-- you-- Good lord, you’re dense as all get out, I  _can’t._  I… look, I…” He hesitated, exasperated, and he swirled around to face away from the twin elves. Though his expression was unreadable, he seemed to be conflicted with himself. Struggling. He growled and grumbled and shifted back and forth for what seemed like forever until he rounded upon Taako once more, gaze burning into his face with sudden intensity.

“Move,” he suddenly commanded.

“I-- no can do, brocephus.”

“Get out of the way, if this is what you truly want. I have to do it  _now_.”

Taako’s retort was cut off by a scythe materializing in the hands of the monster approaching, and his words vanished in his throat.

“I said get  _out of the way!_ ” And with the strike of a skeletal hand, Taako was knocked bodily and unceremoniously from before the cell.

“NO!” Lup cried from within her prison, drawing back from the approaching threat.

“Sorry-- I, look, I really do still hate I had to do you that way… Ta ta~” And with a deft motion, that scythe swung downward.

Taako threw himself off of the ground toward the conflict, but before he even got close enough to see what happened, to see what was going on in the cell, a powerful burst of energy tore through the air, ripped through the ground beneath, and before he knew what was happening, Lup was gone.

A rift on the floor withered away, and silence filled the room like a heavy weight.

Taako could only hear his own breathing, staring only at where Lup had been, only moments beforehand… before she was gone. Before she was gone for what could be forever… before she was gone… fuck, he didn’t even get to say  _goodbye._

“... Yo, uh... where did you send her?”

There was no response.

“Hey, where is she? Where did you send her?” Taako persisted, taking a bold step forward.

And yet, still, no response.

“You in there--”

He was interrupted. The beast rounded on Taako, but instead of being met with a burning red gaze, he was met with nothing but hollow, empty sockets. The bestial form jerked here and there, head twitching from side to side, slack jawed, like a puppet being shaken around on strings.

Taako fumbled back, but he didn’t move quick enough… a clawed hand shot forward through the darkness, and with a force that knocked the wind from him, it slammed into his chest and threw him against the wall, pinning him, pressing harder and harder against his ribs.

_”You’re going to die here, you know that right?”_  The voice that escaped the beast’s maw was now cold, a flat note that rang threateningly through the air,  _“you’re never going to see your sister again. You’ve just given your life to us. We’re going to bleed you dry and you’re going to cease to exist. I hope this is what you wanted.”_

He drug Taako away from the wall, and like a child tossing a toy, he threw him into the same cell Lup had been trapped within. He skid through the coagulated pool of her blood and against the back wall… there was no bravado as he slunk back against the cold stone, hands curled near his chest.

_”You’ll rot here, elf. I suggest you make yourself comfortable.”_

And with that, the bestial figure vanished into the darkness, the rustling of his tattered cloak the only sound in the room before silence pressed in upon Taako from all sides.

He didn’t move for a long time, a numbness seeping through his heart that he’d never truly felt before… he’d felt alone, sure, but he’d always been alone with Lup. So he’d never been truly alone, truly left to face the future, or… was it the end, without her.

He didn’t get to fucking say anything to her. He didn’t get to tell her goodbye. Fuck.

His hands covered his own face, fingertips pressed into his scalp so hard that his nails bit into skin…

He knew if either of them had a chance to save the other, it was Lup saving him, not the other way around… but she was thrown out, injured, to who the hell knew where, and… he was here. Trapped. With the threat of death hanging over his head like a knife on a thread…

His knees found his chest, his face pressed into them… he didn’t cry, he didn’t do anything. There was nothing to be done. He’d made this decision, hadn’t he?

What other decision was there to make..?

It was a sentence he’d decided for himself. All he had to hold onto was a tenuous glimmer of hope… He’d hold fast to it, after all, he was resilient and flexible… he’d bend and twist but he refused to break, not here, not now.

And so he sat, silently lost in his own emotions, insides as cold as the air outside, cold as the blistering snowstorm that raged relentlessly just beyond his prison.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now trapped in a cage once meant for his sister, Taako gets to know his captor, Kravitz, and earns himself a bit of freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is a day late! i had the goal to upload on Fridays set in my mind with the best of intentions, but, well, things happen i guess. this chapter was originally going to be much longer, but i decided to break it into two separate chapters because it was going to be MUCH too long if i left it as one. que sera sera, i guess.
> 
> anyway, hope you enjoy! c:

Taako didn’t know exactly how much time had passed.

Though, in the grand scheme of things, he guessed it didn’t really matter that much. What was a few minutes to a few hours to a few days? He had made his decision, and all he could do now was wait, stall, find an opportunity and take it.

That was just how his life had _always_ been-- this, well… this was no different, right?

Well… perhaps this was a touch different.

The cold had thoroughly worn through his entire body. His form lay slumped against the back wall of his prison, his cloak tugged up over his nose, and empty gaze focused on a point somewhere far away. His thoughts did wander here and there, but stayed focused for the most part on a few key points:

_Where was Lup? Was she okay? Was this choice the right one? Would he ever see her again? Would he truly die here?_

Shit was never as simple as it seemed, and he certainly wasn’t one for just laying down and quitting. The twins had been in dire situations before. They were crafty and clever, they were silk tongued and strong... for now, all he could do was wait, all he could do was play the game until he found a solution.

So, as there was nothing he could do now, he’d simply shut himself down.

Or, at least he _had_ , until the first sound in ages, the first stir of movement in the abysmal, frozen dungeon roused Taako from a self inflicted stupor.

It was the sound of something being clicked against the floor of his cell. Porcelain of a delicate teacup scraped deliberately as it slid across the roughly hewn stone and closer to where Taako remained huddled.

A cup of warm tea.

In the darkness, Taako’s darkvision allowed him the faintest sight of ribbons of steam curling off of the surface and into frigid air.

As wholly tempted as he was by the prospect of a warm beverage, Taako remained still, brows furrowed and focused on the vision now swirling just outside his prison.

Familiar crimson eyes watched him from a few feet away, and upon further investigation Taako came to the realization that the monster now looked practically sheepish at the queer offering. Taako huffed and looked away, arms folded in a particularly petulant way across his chest. While it was more of an act than anything else, he was genuinely suspicious of intent.

Silence followed for a few moments before the spectral beast that had appeared approached his prison, silently floating, fanged mouth pressed between two bars of iron, “Come on now, I only brought it to warm your bones.”

Taako’s face visibly twitched, and he turned to face more fully his captor, “You know,” his voice was croaky, so he paused to clear it, “I gotta honestly wonder if you’re even really trying right now.”

The skeletal creature regarding him seemed vaguely insulted by this, “How do you… what do you mean?”

“I mean, you… you just aren’t all that scary, if we’re being honest." Taako shrugged, "Maybe, like, in moments, um, sorta like the whole throwing me around thing, whack, but right now you’re here making, I dunno,  _bone_ jokes and it’s- it's sort of killing it for me.”

“What, you  _want_ to be scared?” He seemed irritated, and scoffed before continuing, “I could certainly do that. You-- color me confused, you’d think you would  _prefer_ me to be amiable?”

“Sure, sure, sure, but it’s giving me a little whiplash, that’s all,” Taako finally lowered his defensive posture a bit, and scooted closer to the steaming cup of tea, “you flayed my sister and tried to be all cryptic about it, but then you let her go. Now you’re bringing me tea. What’s your deal, is all I want to know?”

“My deal…--” He hesitated, and Taako latched onto that hesitation like a leech.

“So there  _is_ a deal, huh? See, I sort of put those puzzle pieces together myself, but-- so, okay, what’s  _really_ going on here? Why are you pulling this whole ghost rider schtick? Why did you just up and let Lup go? How did you set this trap? Is any of this real? Are you the one in charge here?” Taako was hammering into him with the questions now, which caused his captor to recoil a bit.

“You can’t-- _I can’t_ … first, that’s not a super  _great_ comparison you made there, and… look, I already told you I  _can’t say_. All I came to do was bring you some tea, you know, try to give you something to keep you sane for a while… but I guess if _that’s_ not welcome, and all I’m going to be is accosted, then I’ll take off and just leave you here, huh?”

“Woah woah--” Taako edged closer to the bars, “don’t-- listen, hey, okay, got it loud and clear… no questions. But, uh... level with me here, you can’t blame me for wondering what’s going on, right? Especially if I’m going to ‘rot here’ or… whatever it was you said.”

A pair of red eyes burned into Taako, and his clawed hands slumped down to his sides in defeat, “... I, uh... I said that, eh?”

“Straight from the horse’s mouth. Or… wolf..? Dog..? Monster..? Nightmare?”

“Ah…” He cleared his throat, “Sorry about that, then. It’s… well, I guess it’s sort of true. Not a lot I can do about that… but that’s... that's a little…”

_“Grotesque?”_

“You sound _so_ flippant about it,” the beast mused, “do you face all the trials of your life with such a false bravado?”

Taako’s smile tightened, and after a long pause he shrugged, “Sure. What other way is there?”

“Mm. I thought as much.” He looked away, hands toying with each other idly, “I do appreciate the honesty, I suppose.”

“I mean, you already knew, so what good is lying? Near as I can figure, you don’t  _really_ want to hurt me, so…” Taako finally picked up the cup of tea, and without hesitation took a long, grateful sip of the still steaming liquid.

“Funny you think that, since that’s poisoned and all…”

“Oh, well, _goody goody,_ get me out of this mess a little quicker, eh?” Taako took another sip, and his captor laughed under his breath.

“Not gullible at all, are you?”

“You, uh… you  _met_ my sister, right? You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Ahem, yes…” He looked away again, “I did. Unfortunate, that. She put up quite a bit more fuss than you.”

Taako paused, a thoughtful look on his face before he posed a new question, “So, now that you’re not in freakout mode, I know, another question, can't help it, um, can I ask you again where you sent her..?”

“No, you can’t.” Glowing eyes flashed over his face. “I’m sorry.”

“... Worth a shot, huh? So… let me ask you something else, then--”

“-- see, I thought the questions were--”

“No no, listen, this one’s easy. Real simple. What’s your handle, huh? You have a name, right?”

“I-- That’s inconsequential, I think, eh,  _Taako?_ ”

“See, you already know mine, so… only fair you let me know your name, right, big guy? Proper procedure.”

“This isn’t exactly the right time or place to try and lecture me on manners, do you think?”

“So, you _don’t have one_? Because, let me tell you, I can just come up with something if you don’t--”

“Woah woah woah,” the beast swirled a bit closer to the bars of the cell, clicking his jaw together dangerously, “never said that-- you absolutely may not just ‘come up with something.’”

“-- Like, let’s see here, Nosferatu? Bone-man? Spooklord? Crypt Keeper?”

“Kravitz-- Look, listen, it’s  _Kravitz._ Okay?” He snapped his jaw shut pointedly, the the loud sound of fangs slamming together stopped Taako’s musings, but only long enough that a small smirk could curl on his lips instead.

“ _Kravitz?_ Well, alright then, Kravitz. Let me see here,” Taako tapped his own chin, sitting the now empty teacup down on the ground, “can you at least tell me how this is gonna go down? Like, surely that’s not so out of the way to ask, uh, telling me how I’m gonna perish? Do a guy a favor there?”

“I--” Kravitz shook his head, folding his arms over his chest, “... You just want to know how much time you have, right? I know exactly what’s going on, mind you, that you’re just stalling and waiting for your sister. ... She’ll most certainly be back.”

“Well, I guess cat’s out of the bag then, so sure-- how much sand does Taako got in the old hourglass of fate, huh?” He leaned toward the bars, brows lifted.

“I can’t really say,” he began.

Taako huffed and Kravitz waved a hand to silence his oncoming protest, “not for the same reasons as before… It-- well, it just depends, is all. There’s a lot going on here that you don’t understand and that I cannot tell you, but… you’ll live for as long as... “ He paused, “as long as I allow it. Is that the answer you want?"

“...So I, uh... better cool it with the roasting, eh? If my life is in your hands, and all that. In that case, let me take another pass at this-- you’re sooooooo scary and I’ll do anything you want me to-- just, please,  _please don’t hurt me._ ”

“I am  _going to_ hurt you if you don’t shut up,” but even as Kravitz growled his reply, a chuckle rumbled behind his words.

Taako rolled his eyes, nose wrinkled a bit at his pseudo threat. He had, during the course of the conversation, managed to edge all the way to the bars of his prison. He watched this ‘Kravitz’ as he in turn regarded him curiously, not an ounce of malice seemed to be emanating from him as he waited for a response that didn’t quite seem to be coming.

So, Taako had gleaned _a few things_ from this brief conversation… some of which were just confirmations of the things he hypothesized before-- Kravitz didn’t want to hurt him, so he said. He seemed to be not at all in control here, though he wasn’t able to admit that or explain anything happening. He’d given in and released Lup, and the implication was that she would be back, so Taako could only latch onto that statement and the knowledge that if he expected her to return, then wherever she was, she must be safe.

Wherever he had sent her, _she was okay. She would be okay._

Taako finally made a motion to breach the silence, but the moment he did, something changed between the two of them.

Kravitz, who had only been regarding Taako with what translated as an open curiosity, suddenly jerked violently. His head slammed into the bars, the noise a startling crack that sent Taako edging several feet from the cell door.

Black mist poured from his now open mouth, and as it did so, he reeled back. He moved as far away from the bars of the cell as he could, the mist pooled on the floor around his feet in a violent shroud. It was cold, it reeked of death-- and his eyes, those bright, glowing eyes flickered in and out of darkness.

_“I hav- … I have to go, Taako. Very sorry.”_

And Taako had no chance to respond before Kravitz shuddered again; his head, like a loose joint, twisted back and forth on his neck, an eerie display of violent, erratic movements following-- he turned away from Taako in several jerky motions, and with what seemed to be laborious and struggled movements, he left.

… And he did not return for a quite some time.

The stretches of time that he passed alone were hard. Taako, who was unused to the silence, to the cold loneliness, struggled with having no one to talk to, no freedom to get up and do whatever he wished. Nothing but four walls and darkness and unrelenting cold.

And on top of that cold, on top of the loneliness, the worry and the doubt… he was  _starving._ He had no idea how long he had been trapped there, but hunger gnawed at his insides like a ravenous animal… He’d had nothing since his breakfast the morning he left and a single cup of tea.

He supposed this was what Kravitz had meant by rotting away here.

... when Kravitz finally returned, it was without warning, and it felt as though forever had passed.

Taako’s head perked, and almost too eagerly he edged closer to the bars of his prison-- sure, this Kravitz was his captor, was dangerous, was for all intents and purposes the enemy here... but he was losing his mind in the silence. The promise of even a brief conversation was enough to perk his senses, to give him energy he hadn’t had in days.

But in this instance Kravitz was brief. He was cold. He didn’t speak at first-- he only slid open a small, metal panel in the cell… and offered a bowl of what appeared to be food, and a goblet of water.

The bowl steamed in a skeletal hand, and Taako hesitated only briefly before taking the offering from him, “I gotta ask-- uh, did  _you_ cook this or--”

“I can’t stay,” Kravitz spoke in so short a tone it stunned Taako. His captor shook his head and slid the door panel shut with a click that silenced Taako’s remaining words in his throat, “I’m sorry.” He twitched, gaze flickering, “just-- _please eat_. I’ll be back with more later. I’m-- Taako, I’m trying to do something. And-- it’s very difficult, so bear --”

He hissed, and once more, he slammed into the bars of the cage with a deafening rattle, teeth bore, black mist dripping from his opened mouth like drool from a rabid animal-- before the ghostly substance could travel far enough to reach Taako, he pried himself from the bars and he _roared._ The sound was violent and terrible, a screeching howl that reverberated from the walls of his prison.

Taako’s haphazardly deposited his food on the ground and his hands flew up to clap over his ears.

_“YOU FUCKING-- YOU--_ I- ... fuck- I’m sorry-” Kravitz shuddered, snapping fanged jaws together once, twice, an attempt at grounding himself, “I-- I’ll take my leave-- for the best, you know--”

Once again, before Taako could attempt to muster a response, Kravitz was gone.

He was left alone once more.

Kravitz had brought him a generous helping of a mediocre sort of stew. It went down more than fine, though it was bland and uninspiring, and it satiated at least one of Taako’s needs. Which was _great,_ stellar even, but still the silence, the uncertainty… they were still more than enough to fuck with him on their own.

His next few encounters with Kravitz went much in the same way.

A brief meeting, few words, and an offering of food-- stew again, usually, and sometimes tea, sometimes some bland biscuits… But during these offerings he never stayed, and each time, he seemed to struggle, to lose himself violently to… something.

_Something._

Whatever was truly in charge, near as Taako could figure. Something else was pulling the strings here, and he was certainly not foolish enough to not see it. There was still a great deal of mystery to solve, but fact of the matter was, Kravitz wasn’t the only one here, and he certainly wasn’t in any measure of control. He was battling something each time he offered this food, these visits, these snippets of conversation that Taako found himself looking more forward to than he ever thought he would.

The pattern followed for a stretch before finally breaking.

It wasn’t a regular time for Kravitz to appear-- usually he followed a very strict schedule, and even with no grasp of how much time was passing, Taako instinctively knew when to expect him.

This time, he caught him in the middle of a doze… his robe was rolled beneath his face, and he was curled as far in the corner of his prison as he could allow himself. Despite himself, he was shivering-- the cold was unrelenting, and it was harder and harder to cope with it, so he spent much of his time alone in deep meditation.

“Taako,” a coaxing and almost too-soft voice roused his attention from the cell door, “ah, there, there, sorry to wake you.”

Taako’s face lifted blearily from his makeshift pillow, “No-no, s’... s’no big deal, it’s not exactly tempurpedic sleep I was getting there.”

“Right,” Kravitz hesitated, and now that Taako was actually looking at him, he could see how fidgety and hesitant he was being, “listen… I apologize for being so brief these past couple of days.”

“Apology accepted, my man, don’t lose any sleep over it, uh… if you do sleep,” he was sitting up now, head angled curiously, “I kind of get it, I think.”

“Well… I doubt that, not the full scope of it, at least…” The stark white skull that hovered near the door seemed to glance about, nervous and twitchy, “I-- listen, I’ve been preparing something… spent a good deal of time and energy on it, and I… Listen, I don’t really want to keep you holed up here any more than you  _want_ to be here.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Hush,” he snorted, “I have to emphasize to you that this is incredibly dangerous, but I… it does me no good to let you die. It’s in mine and your best interest that you survive, for now, as long as I can allow it.”

“Alright, I’m all ears, see, now you’re speaking my language, Kravvy-boy."

“Don’t call m-… I-- okay, no,  _whatever works_ , listen, I’m… I’m letting you out, okay? You have to behave, you cannot CANNOT do anything that would set off the balance of energy in this keep. By that I mean, no trying to escape, no trying to break the fabric of space here... There’s a great deal of magic here that I can manipulate, to an extent, and with you here it will be all the easier, as long as you cooperate and you don’t do anything foolish. I know that might not make a whole load of sense, but I truly mean it... Can I trust you to not do anything  _foolish?_ For your sake and, I guess less importantly,  _my sake?_ ”

“Well, I mean, fool shit is sort of in my DNA, but-- if it means getting out of this cage, then I’ll do whatever you need.”

“Gods, I hope you  _mean_ that.” Kravitz sounded uncertain as he watched Taako climb shakily to his feet. But even through that uncertainty, he had already made up his mind about what he needed to do.

With a flick of a clawed hand, there was a dull thud of metal on stone, and the door hinge creaked as it opened, removing the separation that existed between the two of them for the first time since he’d been trapped.

Taako’s gaze darted from the now open door to the spectral monster that hovered a few feet away… He took one shaky step, then another shaky step-- and, well, something about not using his legs for a couple of days and being numb from the frigid cell sort of worked against him.

He stumbled. But before he could fall, a pair of hands caught his shoulders, “Woah-- _easy._ I know you haven’t moved around a lot, take it slow…”

Kravitz’s voice was surprisingly soft and those dangerous hands that held his shoulders were gentle, coaxing as they eased Taako back onto his feet.

“Ah,” he withdrew his hold swiftly, though his hands seemed to curl timidly toward his chest, “... It’ll be easier once we get out of here-- well, I assume it will. It’s been quite a time since I had a body that could feel things.”

Taako steadied himself after a moment, hands smoothing out his rumpled, and woefully dirty clothes… he regarded Kravitz with a look of uncertainty, but not of fear, nor distrust, “... but so, you  _had_ a body once, is what you’re saying?”

Kravitz hesitated, and his mannerisms were fidgety, but only for the briefest of moments before he shook his head, “Not important, honestly. Not now. Though, I know you’ll remember that, eh? Been tryin’ to piece this one together the whole time. I know you’re more thoughtful than you’re letting on.”

“Dunno about all that,” Taako mused.

The longer he walked, the easier he found his pace. Soon, with Kravitz’s guidance, they were traversing the winding staircase back into the main foyer of the castle that should not be.

Though, Taako could feel it now, that there was something vastly different about this trip. There was something that felt off now, but in a way that he couldn’t explain, not at first… Not until the faint flickers of firelight came into his vision, nearly blinding compared to the darkness he had been wallowing in for several days… no, now there was a torch lit along the wall, and another, and another… Torches that were cold and abandoned before.

And when the pair of them crossed the threshold into the castle above, Taako’s jaw slid open despite himself in shock.

A great chandelier, littered with golden candles, cast the once desecrated grand room in warm relief… the marble floors, which before were dusty and destroyed, were now polished and reflected the gilded gold of the sculptures and statues that had littered the ground, but were now standing proud. The walls were no longer in disrepair, tapestries aged and indiscernible were bright with rich color, woven ravens and birds.

It was so  _warm._ It was put together and whole… no longer decrepit and full of horrors, it was now swathed in light, it felt cozy and lived in, it felt… comfortable.

“Hey, Kravitz, let me just be the first person to say it here-- I really love what you’ve done with the place,” Taako drawled, taking tentative steps onto a black, posh rug that lined the main hallway, “really gave it the old HGTV flip, huh? I love this nouveau gothic chic thing you’ve got going on here.”

Kravitz now looked woefully out of place. A tattered, horrifying, semi-transparent skeletal beast hovered among grand decor and bright light, watching Taako with obvious interest as he commented on the new state of things. 

“It’s… --listen, it’s not much, but,” Kravitz spoke carefully, “I could only manage a bit. The magic here, it’s… it’s complicated, but--... Let me be honest with you, I can manipulate it to an extent, but only so long as I can keep myself together.”

“Well, if this is together, then I for sure want to see more of ‘together Kravitz’ and no more of ‘i’m going to crush you and eat your soul’ Kravitz, or whatever.”

“You jest, but I’m… I’m being serious as I can here,” Kravitz drew back a bit, clicking fanged jaws in anxiety, “You-- not a lot of people who come here get to spend much time talking, much time being alive. I’d forgotten quite what a joy it can be to just...  _talk_ to someone before you came blundering into this trap. I know it’s not much, and it’ll only stall the inevitable for a time, but… talking to you--...”

“Look, you don’t have to explain to me what a gift I am-- trust me, _I already know_ ,” but even as he spoke, Taako seemed chuffed, even a little embarrassed, maybe, if the pink on the tips of his ears were any indication… but he smoothed himself over with a practiced facade, “but hey if shooting the shit is what it takes to get the five star treatment around here, listen I’m here for it. Do I get like mints on my pillow and complimentary breakfast, too?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kravitz weighed in patiently, edging closer to Taako, “but… to put what I was saying before in easier terms, you--”

“I even out the batshit crazy in your mind and help you remember who you really are, am I following?” Taako had begun walking, and a stunned Kravitz was left in his wake.

“... yeah, that about sums it up, I guess… as succinctly as I could have told it, anyway.” He began to follow, taking up a pace beside Taako as he strode toward the grand staircase that led upstairs, “there’s only a bit here I could manage to transform… this main hallway, and a bedroom and bathroom upstairs… I… it’s all illusory, mind, I’m sure you’ve worked that out on your own… but it’s real enough in this sense that you can take a warm bath and change clothes…”

“I had a bit of it put together, sure,” Taako paused at the top of the stairs, and in doing so, he turned to face Kravitz more fully.

“So, what’s the catch?”

“... Catch?”

“Sure, there’s got to be a catch, right? You said this is only temporary… so, like, what’re the stipulations?”

“Well,” Kravitz paused, “... I know it might be a bit of a stretch, but… just… keep me company for a bit, as lame as that might sound.”

“... It’s pretty lame,” Taako nodded sagely.

“-- And… there’s a couple of places off limits. I know, that’s like dangling a nice shiny right in front of your nose, eh? But the west wing is completely a no-no zone, alright? And the catacombs below the castle, past the dungeon you were just trapped in-- can’t really work out why you’d wanna go back there, but just in case… those two places, alright? Can I ask you, for both of our sakes, to please, please stay away from them?”

“10-4,” Taako spoke as sincerely as he could, but even with a skeletal face that was inscrutable, Kravitz seemed to doubt his word, “c’mon, I-- I’m in the business of self preservation, my man, we already had this talk. I’ll do whatever it takes to, uh… not die, and this whole thing here, this particular situation, is looking pretty amicable to that plan. So, that’s what I’m going with here. Not dying.”

“I’d think, sure, that’s the best option…” Kravitz sighed, releasing a bit of tension from his ghastly form, “I know you’re exhausted. Wash up, get some sleep, we’ll… I’ll tell you more in the morning, alright? What I can, anyway. I want to help you, and I think it’s fair enough to say I want to help me, too. Does that seem agreeable?”

_“Quite.”_

Kravitz seemed placated by the short, but sincere response. He waved Taako off as he excused himself from the conversation, though he didn’t take his eyes off of his retreating form until he had made his way to the only room on the second floor that was transformed in any sort of habitable way.

As soon as Taako shut the door to said room behind himself, he leaned back against it, eyes unfocused as he took a few minutes to fully process what was happening. He’d sort of been flying by the seat of his pants for a majority of the conversation that just transpired-- _okay_ , he needed to just boil it down to the facts. After that, he could take a bath, and fuckin’ sleep in a  _bed. IN A BED._

He was free from his prison. He’d been told explicitly to not go to two places. Kravitz enjoyed his company. Kravitz wanted to help him and help himself. Was he trapped here too? There was much more at play here than met the eye. Lup was safe and if Kravitz expected her to come back, then she would. This castle was an illusion, which Taako sort of figured from the start, but now he had confirmation.

_Okay._

It was a lot to digest, and what was harder to digest in some ways was the awkward snark of his captor, well, of his unwilling captor. Kravitz seemed right nervous around him when he wasn’t trying to be all cryptic or pulling a Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde type transformation on him.

It was kind of cute. Sort of. Weird. Where'd that cornball thought come from? He stuck his tongue out at himself and finally shook himself from the doorway of his new quarters and actually took it in.

It was a rather generously sized room. Dark walls littered with fleur de lis patterns and golden, gilded trim. An inviting, four poster bed was the centerpiece, lined with silks that shimmered in the faint flicker of a fireplace burning a mantle across the room, which sent waves of welcome warmth over his exhausted and cold body. There was another door that hung open, leading to washroom with a claw-footed tub, something else extremely inviting. Everything was ornate, beautiful, cozy and most importantly not destroyed and not the inside of a fucking  _cell_ that he thought he had no hope of escaping.

And so Taako decided that, for now, he would continue to roll with the punches. It was sort of what he did best, after all… and everything was sort of coming up in his favor all of a sudden, which was great, naturally, and he wasn’t going to squander this brief reprieve while he had it.

So he took the longest, most lavish bath he possibly could. The bathroom was well equipped, expensive bath oils and salts at his fingertips, much to his glee.

Now bathed, warm and entirely naked, Taako collapsed into a lavish bed the likes of which he hadn’t gotten to enjoy in months… not since the last time they finagled their way into that ritzy ass hotel in Neverwinter by pretending to be some travelling celebrities.

This… yeah, this was an improvement.

Exhaustion washed over his body in waves. He didn’t even bother drying his hair as he cocooned himself in the plush down of a comforter and warm firelight and passed the  _fuck_ out.

There was nothing like sleeping in a bed when you’ve been sleeping exclusively on a dirty stone floor, after all.

In the morning, well, he guessed it was morning, he awoke rejuvenated in a way he hadn’t been the entire time he’d been trapped. He was full of energy, he was  _living._ He was free, he had freedom to do what he wanted, go where he wanted--

Taako certainly wasn't a pushover and though he _was_ an idiot, he wasn't a _fool._ He wasn't going to simply take the word of someone he didn't know that he would be safe and secure... and he wasn't going to be charmed so easily by this pseudo kindness. Not now. He was keen as a fox, and as slippery as one, to boot. He would play along where he needed to, but his main goal, his quest now, was to put into better clarity what was _really_ happening here.

That way when Lup did come... when his chance for escape fell into his hands... he would be able to take it with some knowledge of what he was doing.

There were so many unanswered questions that would remain unanswered if he didn’t take initiative. Lup wasn’t there to take that initiative for the pair of them, so Taako would take up that mantle to a degree. And what would Lup do if she were cryptically told to absolutely not go somewhere… right?

Taako got dressed in the dim light of the room-- all of his effects from his bags were present, plus an assortment of extravagant and opulent clothing. After coiffing himself and smoothing down the bedhead he'd managed to obtain over the course of his wet-haired slumber, he set out to do exactly what he intended.

_It was time to do a bit of exploration._

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako disobeys Kravitz in doing exactly what he was told not to do-- heading for the West Wing... there, he discovers a hidden room, a rose, a raven, and the anger of a betrayed Kravitz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the week delay! i had a bit of writer's block for the past few days and decided to give myself some extra time to deal with it. there's some violence in this chapter, so just be warned ahead of time. btdubs if any of you here don't already, you should come visit me on tumblr @sisterlich. i yell about taz a lot and we can yell together. sadhsahd anyway, enjoy~ c:
> 
> future me again: there's another beautiful piece of art in this chapter by the inexplicably talented karamips-art on tumblr, so you should go and show her some love!

Taako already knew exactly where he wanted to go.

Of course, he remembered the warnings that Kravitz gave him the night before. How could he forget? He'd been in such serious-business mode at the time.

_Do not go to the west wing. Do not venture to the catacombs beneath the castle. Do not do this, because it will be bad for both of us._

Yadda, yadda, yadda... blah blah blah.

Those things made sense, maybe. It would be objectively safer to sit and wait for something to happen. Well, it  _would_ be safer if he knew he had the time to dawdle.

But right now? Taako didn’t trust a damn thing about this castle, his captor, or the stipulations for his freedom. Sure, he’d made the busted castle, his prison, more habitable, at little… and sure, he’d brought him some food here and there, but Taako wasn’t dense enough to believe so easily that it would be that simple.

Shit was  _never_ that simple, and there was one truth that resonated with Taako above everything else:

_The twins only trusted themselves and each other._

That was the fail-safe that had kept them alive for this long, and there was no good reason for Taako to go against that belief now. Not when it had saved them so many times before... and especially not now, now when he didn't even know where Lup was.

Still, despite that, Taako wasn’t exactly the most confident in his plan. There was a  _very_  good chance he’d get caught, and then who knew what would happen... but the fact of the matter was that he could _learn_ something more about this place, about what was going on, and that would be worth it. Anything, really, to avoid just wasting away, anything to keep his mind occupied, so that it didn’t linger on his sister, her fate, and his  _own_ fate.

It would be simple enough. He'd pulled off a heist or two in his time, after all. He’d slip in and out. He’d peep the West Wing first, he figured, then head back to his new bedroom and hopefully Kravitz and all the ghouly-ghosties of this dilapidated hellscape would be none-the-wiser.

That was, erm... the ideal situation, anyway.

When Taako finally exited his gifted room, he was more gussied up than any elf being held prisoner in a decrepit castle had the right to be, and _especially_ for an elf with the full intention to embark on a stealth mission-- a mission in which the goal was to  _not_ be seen and  _not_ be caught.

In fact, it was almost comical to see this elegantly dressed elven wizard, who was so _obviously_ sneaking out the door of his room and down the narrow corridor leading to the grand landing of the castle staircase.

He'd been gifted a wardrobe of the most opulent clothing he'd ever had his grimy little hands on... of course he was going to allow himself to go a little overboard. Who could say how long this shin-dig would even last? He'd make the most of some nice, not worn, not stolen, not second-hand clothes for the brief time that he was allowed them... it was a small decadence that he'd accept with grace and style and...

Well, _over-the-top._

He glistened in the candlelight as he stepped out of the bedroom. He was dressed to the nines from toe to head. In his defense, this had been one of the flashier ensembles in the wardrobe... all the better to give it a wear now, right, before all of this got swept away from him in one way or another. He wore an opulent hat, gilded in gold, hemmed with a thin silvery veil hung off the back and down toward his bare shoulders. A sleeveless coat-vest was buttoned up to his neck, and the silken, black material was littered with golden embellishments and hung down to a short coattail right above his thighs. The trousers that were tucked into his boots were just as opulent, cream and edged with black lace, and he'd shoved his feet into the most slick pair of black boots he could find, low heeled and glossy. Taako'd hemmed and hawed over this outfit for a while, and was only truly content with it after finding a pair of black, fingerless gloves. A gold ring sat on his middle fingers, and the rest of the glove stopped just above his elbow, sparkling with gold beads and actually surprisingly warm. Fabulous  _and_ functional.

To be frank, Taako looked about as opulent as the transformed castle in which he found himself. Funny, considering the clothes were also created by Kravitz's magic. Supposedly.

... But Kravitz hadn’t been lying when he said that the stretch of magic that made the castle now habitable was only transforming a small area-- as soon as Taako crossed over the main landing above the grand staircase into the rest of the upper level, the warm, inviting atmosphere immediately changed back to desecrated, cold, and dark... exactly how Taako had found it to begin with. It was a bit jarring, honestly, to be hit with frigid air and the smell of death and rot once more.

It rooted Taako in place only briefly as he took in the change... but he had to continue, even despite how unpleasant it may be. 

… To the west wing.

His movements were much more careful now, and a reflexive hand remained on the wand holstered to his hip, though he knew it did him no good. Taako could still feel, after all, the tight pressure on his chest that held his magic at bay. Unarmed and defenseless, he felt recurring thrills of fear at what he was doing, at him going against Kravitz's word, at exploring this place that was obviously dangerous and obviously intended to kill him.

If Lup were here, he wouldn’t have to be messing with any of this nonsense. Lup would barge through this castle like a bull, and Taako could kick it in the background like he usually did.

Taako swallowed, reminding himself that those thoughts did him no good. Fact of the matter was, this was on _him_ to figure out. He had to make it just a little further. Just a _little_ further.

The castle ambiance seemed to only grow darker and more frigid as he wandered through a winding corridor that could only, as far as Taako could surmise, lead to the West Wing. It seemed forboding enough, anyway. He pressed on toward the forbidden zone. Toward exactly where he was told not to go.

Honestly, he had halfway expected to be, well, _stopped_ by now. The entire castle reeked of necrotic energy, right? ... and he was, in fact, a PRISONER here-- he'd just have thought maybe security would be a touch more alert to, like, him just traipsing wherever the hell he damn well pleased.

Not that he was complaining.

Because he definitely wasn’t.

And he definitely  _shouldn't be._

It didn’t seem possible, but as Taako walked, as he gazed about at his surroundings with cautious curiosity, he realized that the decrepit mess that was this building seemed to only get decidedly worse as he moved closer and closer to the west side of the castle.

There were seared patterns on the floor that tore great gashes in the stone. The decor was absolutely and completely destroyed, not just aged into disarray and it looked here as though it had been attacked. The further he went, the more it looked like there was a full on battle in this hall. It was a scene of mass destruction that littered whole hunks of wall and ceiling all over the floor.

What _happened_ here?

Taako swallowed, realizing with a start that this might be the biggest yikes he’d come upon so far… whatever happened here, if it happened again, could absolutely rip him limb from limb.

Great, Excellent. Good odds, he figured.

And yet, still, he continued. Even as his more rational mind begged him, pleaded for him to head back to safety-- to have another nice bath, to prance around the extravagant bedroom he'd been gifted, to sit by the fire and wait for his sister to come and kick the door down and save him... He continued.

Finally at the end of the long passageway was a closed doorway, and despite the destruction of the area around him, it stood fast and solid where most of the other fixtures were completely askew and wrecked.

Well, that had to be it, then. The door to whatever he wasn't supposed to find in the west wing.

Taako steeled himself-- okay, _real easy_ , just take a gander, see what you can figure out, then get the fuck out of here before you get caught.

He approached, apprehension evident in his every movement, and pressed his weight against the thick oak of the doorway.

As the door swung open, the darkness of the hall around him was cast away by an eerie, purple glow. Taako froze, blinking multiple times to adjust his eyes to the sudden influx of light. He slid inside the doorway, and gazed at a sight he… well, he didn’t really know _what to expect,_ but this certainly wasn’t it. That was for sure.

He’d entered a circular room of destroyed furniture and decor. It looked as though the epicenter of that battle, of the carnage that blasted through the rest of this wing, was here. The fixtures of the room were blown back and destroyed against the walls in a perfect ring, leaving only empty space and what happened to be floating in the middle of the room, perfectly centered.

It was an orb encased in an opalescent, clear crystal, and inside that orb was held a rose.

The rose was the source of the eerie purple light that bathed the room. It was a violet blossom, and in the center glowed a faint, red core. The glowing blossom was held in the air by a stone bird, a twin headed raven, Taako realized, which had dangerous talons curled desperately around the stem of the flower, twin beaks open in a permanent screech toward the heavens. It was mid flight, desperation and anger carved into the delicate ebony stone in which it was gracefully made.

And it _radiated_ energy. Though, not the same dark, necrotic energy as the rest of the castle, not by a long shot. Taako couldn’t put his finger on the class of magic, but it was powerful. It coursed through him in eerily comforting waves as he walked a circle around this crystal orb that hovered dead in the center of the room.

As he watched, as he paced around it, a single petal fell from the massive bloom, and as it did, it dissolved into an inky blackness before being swept away into nothingness.

Just how… _hokey was all this?_

A flower in a crystal ball, a rose held by a raven… this was what Kravitz didn’t want him to find? Why? What was so special about this? What was the purpose?

[ ](https://karamips-art.tumblr.com/post/171596745212/a-thing-i-did-based-on-the-fic-tale-as-old-as)

Taako glanced back and forth, nervous but also incredibly curious, before he extended a hand to allow his fingertips to glide over the smooth surface of the shimmering orb protecting the rose and raven.

His movements were interrupted. As his fingers slid over the surface of the crystal, it began to melt and shift with his touch, and as his hand moved, as the warmth of his fingertips permeated the barrier it melted away. The crystal popped like a bubble in slow motion as the surface gradually dissipated into nothing, leaving only the raven that hovered in midair, and the glowing, purple and red flower that it clutched in its claws.

Ohhhhh man. He shouldn’t touch that flower. Right? Definitely not a great idea. Definitely not. On an idea scale of one to ten, it was a negative twenty.

And yet, the temptation was irresistible. The magic that radiated from this flower, this purple rose, felt _alive._ It felt powerful. It felt more intensely than anything he’d yet encountered in this castle. 

Taako’s breath caught in his throat.

Stupid. _Stupid stupid stupid._

… He couldn’t resist, it was like to a moth to a flame. It was drawing, alluring... and he saw his own hand reaching for the so delicate, so soft looking petals without thinking, without heeding consequence.

Before Taako’s fingers could reach the silken, plush petals of the rose, something happened--

\-- the energy in the room fluctuated, and the fluctuation was so powerful that it caused the very air around Taako to move, to bluster in a strong torrent. He froze in his tracks, hand curling close to his chest as he took several paced steps back, away from the flower.

And as he moved, the eyes of the raven, all four empty eyes, flashed a bright red-- the crystal bubble that had dissipated around the fragile flower reappeared with a loud snapping noise, and right in time, as tendrils of dark magic surged from the floor, from the walls, and slammed into that shell, though it held fast, hard as stone whereas when Taako had touched it it had been so soft and fragile--

The magic that tore through the room now was purely malevolent, purely necrotic in nature. It licked at his heels and snapped at his arms and hands-- Taako flit away from the grasping darkness, but it swirled and intensified in desperate anger, now completely consuming the crystal orb and rose.

He should… probably bounce, right? Like, now. Like, right  _now._

But before he got a chance to make that decision, the inky black of necrotic energy became more violent, more wild, more angry-- it tossed furniture, it tore chunks from the walls, it roared through the room, and Taako could hardly move one way or another.

And then, it stopped. Not because the surge had ceased, but because suddenly he was being shrouded by something.

A spectral cloak was draped over his body from above. A skeletal hand hovered in front of Taako’s face, shielding him from the cutting energy assaulting the room. Taako could feel it now, a much different presence behind him, pressed against his back. Glancing up revealed the underside of a wolven skull, the violent glow of red eyes. The skeletal hand that wasn’t protecting Taako’s face was holding aloft a battered scythe, and with it he cut through any tendrils of darkness that came too close, or any bits of broken furnishings that threatened to slam into them.

“ _Brace yourself_ ,” Kravitz’s voice warned from above, tense and cold.

Taako did as he was instructed, though it wasn't as if he had any sort of choice in the matter.

The swirling vortex of black in the middle of the room that had coiled so tightly around the rose, and the crystal surrounding it, quivered. It convulsed and twisted and bubbled like the surface of tar, and Kravitz drew a bit closer to Taako, his spectral veil completely over his huddled form.

As he did so, the dark energy froze in place… and then it was like an explosion.

Energy from the rose, from the crystal orb, expanded outward in such a quick, violent force that everything else in the room was thrown back against the walls. Taako held his ground, though he surprisingly felt very little of the force of the event, the veil of Kravitz’s cloak a more durable shield than it seemed.

The necrotic energy that had been threatening to consume the orb and Taako alike were gone, dwindling away like smoke from a snuffed candle. The room fell very still, and as the energy dissipated, the crystal orb that held that innocuous rose ceased in a violent red glow… it faded and faded until returning to the perfect, opalescent clarity that Taako had found it in.

Several petals curled off of the rose and vanished in the bottom of the orb, one by one, leaving it much less full and much less beautiful than it had been before. The twin headed raven’s eyes ceased in peering, the gaze now hollow once more.

Kravitz and Taako were both still for what felt like forever before Kravitz lowered his arm from before Taako’s face, and then swirled past him in a flurry of movement.

He approached the orb, the rose, fretting here and there as his hands traced the solid barrier, as his teeth clicked together in an agitated manner.

Taako stood awkwardly, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“Woo, okay... that was... Kinda-- buck wild, huh..?” He asked after clearing his throat, though Kravitz didn’t respond. Taako felt himself fidgeting, desperately, he searched for a way to fill the awkward silence, to patch up this breach... And his only coping mechanism? Make it a joke... and so, that was what he did.

Taako continued after his long pause, “I… ahem, I have to say, this whole set-up is…”

_“... Taako."_

“... kind of cheesy, just a little bit, don’t you think? Like, a _rose,_ come on is this a Little Golden Book or something?” Taako froze as Kravitz finally turned to face him, and his bright eyes stared right through Taako’s.

“You--” Kravitz paused, and seemed to be collecting himself, “you-- surely you understand the gravity of what you just almost did, right? You’re not so fucking daft that you can’t piece together what just transpired, right?”

“Well,” Taako hesitated-- that tone was a little less than friendly, and, well, he figured rightly so, “I mean, listen, I ain’t a fairy tale princess, you know--”

“-- And I’m not just some fairy tale monster,” Kravitz growled, and his hands finally slid off of the crystal orb as he rounded to more fully face Taako.

“... Between you and me, not really a fairy tale prince either.”

“This is aaaaall just a joke to you, isn’t it?” Kravitz slapped his hand on his own face, a clatter of bone sounds that caused Taako to giggle quietly in the background, “Yeah, I can-- Yeah, I can totally see that now, huh? All one big goof, not a measure of seriousness here, not-- not a bit of care for what you could have just done to this place, no, really, honestly, to the _whole world?_ ”

Taako grew quiet, but then he languidly lifted a finger to stop Kravitz and spoke in a much more even way, “Well, let’s think about this a second… You-- no, I guess I, I brought myself here, sure. And here’s this cockney speaking eldritch nightmare who doesn’t actually tell me anything about what’s going on, just some, some cryptic nonsense, and then expects me, you know, the one who is going to have their soul sucked out of their body or whatever this place’s M.O. is, to just sit around like a fuckin' damsel in distress and wait to kick the old bucket? Sorry, compadre, but that doesn’t really fly.”

“I-- You-- I _told_ you, I can’t-- you-- listen to me,” his voice was rising, and a tempered anger now colored his tone, “I told you. I _told_ you I can’t tell you everything. I can’t-- you… is it not enough that I made an explicit point to protect you, to _save your fucking sister,_ when I could just have easily left you _both_ to rot here? You-- I thought you’d pieced this together, Taako, I thought you were clever, maybe a little understanding, but-- no, I get it, you’re--”

“... Now _hang on_ \--”

“No, no hanging on. This-- this means nothing to you, you joke and you jest but I get it, you don’t trust me, you don’t _care,_ and I was a fool to trust you, to think that maybe you had some inkling of what I _needed_ in you.” Kravitz shook his head, agitated, “you-- there’s no point to this, here, is there?”

“Yeah, maybe you were a fool to trust me. You, uh, you know I sort of don’t have any reason to trust you, either, right? Am I just supposed to--”

Kravitz snapped his jaws together, and the sharp sound of fangs colliding silenced Taako mid sentence.

“I know that now,” Kravitz's tone had drawn into scathing, “what kind of naive fool am I to think it’d be so simple?”

“-- look, hombre, trust is a _two way street_ … I’m-- I’m not just going to sit around and wait while my life is in someone else’s hands.”

“It would have been much, much smarter to do so, because now it’s out of my hands. Now I’m-- now I don’t _care,”_ Kravitz spat the words in frustration, and swiped an arm at Taako.

Taako stepped back, stunned at the sudden attempt at physical harm. And then he saw it-- clear as day, the _flicker_ of red from Kravitz’s eyes… he twitched, snarling, and his hands drew up to clutch his head.

“Just-- go, go-- _get out_ , you want out so badly, you want to _escape_? The catacombs, you know, that  _other_ place I told you not to go? That’s the exit. Go on, go find your way out, I hope you onl-- I hope you only the b-best--” His voice was cracking, his bones snapping and shifting, crunching and vibrating. He was trying to hold it together, Taako could tell, but… it wasn’t working.

And stupidly, he hesitated. He didn’t move, he just stared at Kravitz as he shook and rumbled, before his form whipped toward him and he roared--

_“GET. OUT. **NOW! GO!** "_

Black mist oozed from his maw as he advanced upon him, and Taako finally took that as his cue to flee.

_He bolted._

There was no time to wait. Kravitz rounded on him as he dashed past, and though he didn’t take the opportunity to attack him as he brushed around him he did give one last deafening roar as he passed.

Taako didn’t stop-- fine, _alright_ , if the catacombs were his shot at freedom, then he would take them. He was so fucking _beyond_ done with this. There was a lot of bullshit he’d put up with, but right now, he’d been told that was the way out-- the best he could do would be to see if that was true.

He stopped into the bedroom he’d been so _graciously_ gifted from this shit-hole and snatched up his and Lup’s personal belongings and a thick cloak, which he haphazardly threw over his shoulders as he dashed out of the room.

Catacombs. The catacombs.

Kravitz had said they were downstairs, past the dungeons. That was certainly somewhere he sure as hell never wanted to return but it was what it was, and he was going to do his best to find freedom, especially if he was going to have to deal anymore with home-boy snapping and pulling that Jeckyll-Hyde thing… _enough was enough._

The dungeon was exactly how he remembered it: fuckin’ terrible. Awful. Worst place in this castle to be, which was saying something, because the whole place kind of just sucked.

Somewhere in the back of this darkened, stone hellscape was a passage to catacombs that supposedly would lead to his freedom, so he had to find them.

The dungeons were a winding, circular structure, littered with bones and scattered, decayed belongings of he could only figure the people who came before him, before Lup. Taako didn’t really care for the feeling of being unsettled, but something about empty bones and trinkets and personal effects being brushed aside and crushed by his feet set his stomach topsy-turvey.

The imagery was just another stark reminder that he had to get out. He had to escape. He… he’d make it and he’d meet up with Lup and they’d laugh about this and joke and goof, as they did with most of their harrowing escapes, and then they would move the hell on with their lives.

While the trek felt as though it lasted forever, it actually didn’t take long to reach the end of the dungeon. A steel door sat almost cryptically before Taako, bolted but not locked.

And for the first time since taking off away from Kravitz, he felt true hesitation. This door, well, there was nothing outright foreboding about a fucking door, but he couldn’t help the apprehension that coiled in his heart at the sight of it.

_But he would go_.

He wasn’t brave, not by a long shot, but right now bravery was a mask he had to wear with what pride he could muster.

The iron door opened surprisingly easily. He slid through, and as soon as he did, he felt a change that made his heart leap into his throat.

It was a subtle difference. It was a change that perhaps someone with lesser senses than himself would miss, but Taako’s perception was keen, Taako’s arcane senses were sensitive enough that he felt it like a slap in the face.

_The castle he’d left was an illusion._

These catacombs were **real**.

There was something about the way the stone felt beneath his feet, the way the air stuck to his skin, moist and cold, the scent pungent with mildew and wet earth. The space his body occupied had a presence that the dismal, stiff castle simply didn’t.

It was real. So very real.

_He was back in the real world._

Taako took several deep breaths to steady himself, and as he did so, he allowed his senses to calm down. To focus. To feel. To sense. There was an exit here-- this had to be the way out, because this wasn’t some stupid fucking illusion. This was the real deal. This was the world he'd left behind when he wandered into that stupid trap on the path. This was his home world. This wasn't some spectral hell-scaped illusion, this was home.

There was absolutely no way he was going to turn around now.

The passageways were damp, and the sounds of his heels clicking on the ground echoed for miles down the tunnel before him as he made his way through the seemingly endless darkness.

His footsteps were the only sound at first, but Taako took pause as he suddenly heard the first different noise in what felt like forever. It was a much closer noise than his own echoed footsteps.

It was a much more dangerous noise.

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end… there were chains rattling somewhere in front of him, and… also, jarringly enough, somewhere behind him.

And then a growl-- low and guttural, followed by another… one in front and one behind.

Taako could see it now, the whites of eyes in the darkness before him. Darkvision allowed him at least this, though he could make no sense of the monster’s shape, of the monster’s form… He took a step back, but he knew there was something else behind him.

He was cornered.

“H-hey, uh, _don’t mind me_ \-- just passing through, just… just gonna, gonna, you know, go back to hell now, if you don’t mind--”

Another growl quieted him, this time from behind… this time much closer.

Taako couldn’t reach his magic, even now that he was free of the castle. He had nothing with which to defend himself… so he’d wait, and he’d bolt. He’d run as soon as he knew where these monsters, or whatever, were… He was nimble and quick…

Approaching in front of him were those white eyes. And then the white of fangs… and the shimmer of long claws amongst thick fur on large paws… and out of the darkness, which swirled around this beast as if it were forming it, came the hulking form of a wolf, half of its face rotted away to reveal stark white bone and teeth, and chains tethered the wolf’s throat and paws to the darkness in binding.

It prowled toward him, pacing this way and that, eyes boring into Taako’s, through Taako.

The wolf before him opened its mouth and a deep rumbled snarl escaped bore teeth, the very air around Taako shook with the force of this growl, this warning.

Before Taako could react, he heard it-- the sound of chains snapping loose as a great mass charged at him from behind.

Taako ducked, and the dark shape whirred over his head and skid to a stop in front of him, though its paws made no sound on the ground, and a second wolf turned toward him.

He wasn’t going to waste any time now. Taako took off. He dashed back toward the castle, his prison, back down the passageway that led to stupid Kravitz and a stupid, cheesy rose--

Taako was fast on his feet, for sure, but he was not fast enough. Not to outrun the horror pursuing him now.

The full weight of the monsters pursuing him slammed into his back. Taako made to twist away as he was toppled to the ground, but he didn’t make it far enough.

White hot pain tore through his shoulder as fangs punctured the fabric of his coat and his skin with a dull squelch. Taako was yelling, but he felt so disconnected from the pain that it was like hearing someone else screaming from far away.

A heavy paw slammed into his chest, and claws followed suit, they crushed him, tore into him, pressed so hard he could feel the crunch of his bones under the weight of this wolven monster. Inky, black drool fell in splatters along his face, which was contorted in pain as the fangs in his shoulder were given a violent shake, and he was tossed so easily beneath their strength.

Was he going to die like this? Just like that?

_Fuck._

That thought flashed through discordinant thoughts in his mind and sent him into a panic.

He couldn’t die here. No. Not like this. Not trapped like a rat in some stupid castle, not while having no clue what happened to his sister… not like this, when the two of them had defied death so many times in their stupid, pathetic lives--

Suddenly, the wolf crushing his chest was hit with a force so hard that it went flying backwards and toppled into shadow.

Taako lay, stunned-- the weight on his abdomen was gone.

The other wolf was then torn unceremoniously away from him.

Its teeth were wrenched from Taako’s flesh, and cold air hit the wet wounds and caused him to curl in on himself in pain, though the act of curling hurt all the same, broken ribs searing agonizingly as he attempted to quell the hurt of his other wounds.

Above him, in a cloak that swirled with the energy of his rage, roared Kravitz. His jaw open amidst a menacing boom of noise that sent the wolves skittering back a bit further into the tunnels.

Taako’s vision was swimmy as he drug himself back away from the fight that ensued.

Kravitz lurched forward, scythe in hand, and the wolves made for him now instead. But the monstrous man was much too powerful for them. A swing of his scythe sent one scurrying back into the shadows, chains rattling down the hallway and into silence.

The other wolf stood its ground. It lunged here and there at Kravitz, who moved seamlessly in turn with each snap, each volley of heavy paws and claws.

It seemed that Kravitz had the upper hand, it seemed like he was winning… but the course of battle swiftly changed as the spectral darkness that held his skeletal form together jerked out of his control.

This time, the wolf’s aim fell true. A set of jaws tore into the front of his robe, into his chest, and there, amidst the mist that held him together and the tattered robe that sat upon his shoulders, was a faintly glowing red orb. It was so shrouded in the darkness of his body that Taako had never noticed it, not until now, not until the ghostly wolf found hold of it in its fangs.

Kravitz shuddered and contorted as soon as the creature latched on, and his energy surged.

Taako covered his face with the back of his arm to shield himself as the energy built and built before exploding outward with enough force to not only send the wolf that had attacked flying backward, but to cast its form into nothingness, ribbons of darkness swirling into the shadows the only thing left of the monster as it was destroyed.

“H-holy _shit_ \--” Taako stuttered, twisting with some effort to face Kravitz once more, to see his heaving form as he hovered close to the ground, hands clutching his head.

Kravitz was losing it.

Taako could see it easily now. He twitched and convulsed and threw his head back and forth as the radiating red of the sphere in his chest fluctuated and flickered, along with the brights of his eyes.

“Hey- _hey- Listen-”_

Kravitz rounded on him.

Taako felt swimmy as he tried to move, as he tried to get to a position in which he could stagger to his feet. Blood flowed freely from the open wounds on his shoulder, and his abdomen screamed with pain as he pushed his hands upon the ground to try and rise.

But Kravitz was on him before he could do so, a clawed hand clutched the back of Taako’s shirt. He shook him violently, heaving, vile breaths of black fog oozing from Kravitz’s teeth as he threw him back and forth.

“ _Come back_ \--” Taako stuttered desperately, voice strained as he suffered the jostling Kravitz was giving him. He threw his hands up and clutched at Kravitz’s face, at the smooth, ice cold bone of beastial maw as it snapped and snarled at him.

Kravitz’s gaze flickered, but even so, he threw him down to the ground. The scythe in his hands rounded upon Taako’s fallen form.

But Taako persisted. Even as his gaze darkened, even as lightheadedness threatened to overwhelm him… as swirls of inky black and bright white danced in his vision, he persisted.

He forced himself up. He grabbed Kravitz’s face once more.

“Kravitz-- hey, I know you’re in there. Listen to me, you have to _hold on_ \--” Taako’s voice faltered as Kravitz jerked this way and that in Taako’s hold, “-- you, hey, you gotta come back. I know-- this is on me, I did this, I own it… I- I, look, I want to trust you, okay? Come back, we’ll figure this out _together._ You-- I know you’re not all evil-- You wouldn’t come save me if you were, right? What’s the point? Just--”

Taako felt his legs giving out from beneath him. His gaze was littered with stars as his fingers loosened from where they clutched Kravitz’s face, “-- come back… Please?

_I’m sorry._ ”

... Taako fell.

And as he fell, he gazed into the hollow eyes of Kravitz’s form. He gazed into the inky black that consumed him… and in it, just as his head struck the ground, just as his body fell prone to the cold stone below, he saw a violent red glow.

_And then darkness._


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup, defeated and nearly dead, finds herself saved by a traveler... with his help, she discovers more about the dark truth of the castle that now holds her brother prisoner and the beast that prowls within.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next week's chapter might be a bit delayed due to my husband's birthday, valentine's day and a convention over the weekend! i'm also working on a collab valentine's day fic that might take priority over this one. this week we're visiting lup and seeing how she's doing~ hope you enjoy!

A quaint village lay beneath a blanket of fresh snow. The wintry weather that had been threatening them for days finally passed through the night, leaving glistening white and quiet in its wake. Thatched rooftops were hammered with heavy, wet flakes of snow, blustered by the occasional wind that sent the smoke of many fireplaces spiraling into the storm.

Not a soul stirred as most villagers were not eager to trek the weather… not when cozy mantles and warm mead promised to relieve the chill in their bones.

The entire scene was picturesque, except for… one thing.

In town square, there lay a woman.

The snow around her fallen form was disturbed, signs of her desperation trailed behind her in inky, black stained snow. She was no longer moving, face down in the barrage of weather with a light coating of snow across her back.

… and soon she was found by a man.

Scooped up and covered with the cloak from his own shoulders, she was carried away, away from the ice cold, away from the morbid stain of blood her fallen form left behind.

…

When Lup woke up, it was an arduous process. She realized first that she was no longer cold; she was actually quite cozy, and though her limbs felt leaden, her body was resting in a comfortable bed. The scent of the down blanket near her nose was spiced with outdoors and a subtle, lingering cologne.

… She couldn’t remember what she had been doing.

And she didn’t know where she had ended up.

Her nose twitched, her ears perked, and finally she forced one of her eyes to open. Her vision was blurry, and she had to blink repeatedly to clear the fog. Above her, the ceiling was tinted orange from firelight nearby.

The room smelled like hot chocolate.

Lup groaned, a quiet complaint, and she rolled her head to the side in an attempt to regain her bearings.

As soon as she moved, the man who had been stirring a mug of cocoa nearby jerked.

“H-hey-- _you’re awake_ \--”

Lup’s attention turned toward the source of speech and her eyes fell upon a middle-aged, stout and bespectacled human man. He looked exhausted, circles dark under his eyes which were full of concern… he wore a soft, cotton button down and what looked to be the crispest denim pants she had ever seen.

“... uh… yeah, I _think_ so…” Lup’s voice was just a croak, and she was surprised at the sound, “... I… uh…”

Boy this was... this was throwing her for a loop. She was starting to remember things now that the bleary fog of unconsciousness was fading in her mind, as awareness overrode the exhaustion and unpacked the events of the last few days. She had been on a trip to the next town over to deliver a package. She had run into a freak snowstorm. She had gotten lost and had somehow ended up attacked by a monster and trapped in a castle dungeon… And then _Taako… Taako..._

“ _Taako!_ ”

In a flurry of movement, Lup jerked upright in the bed, but as she did so, she remembered the severity of her wounds in harsh, biting clarity.

Her abdomen screamed in pain. She winced and made a guttural sound of discomfort, her face screwed up as she rode the agonizing feeling in _waves._

“Woah, woah, _Lady-_ -” The man at her bedside rushed forward and rest soft hands on her shoulders, “take it easy, you were, uh… you were pretty fuckin’ messed up out there. I had to do a lot of work to get that wound to take to healing.”

Lup was loathe to do so, a glare burning her features as she was forced back onto a laying potion... but she conceeded, allowing his gentle hands to guide her back into the bed. She then stared at the ceiling, gaze hard, frustrated, calculating.

But she realized through those thoughts that she  _had_ been saved, by a stranger no less… she had no reason to be harsh with him, even if she didn’t trust him.

“... Yeah, it was pretty sick-nasty, huh?”

“I… uh… I guess you could say that, sure…” The man took a seat again, but scooted a bit closer to her bedside as he did so, “you’ve been out for like two days now. I was kinda afraid you wouldn’t wake up.”

“Nah, it’d take _heaps_ more than that to kill me.”

She sounded so sure of herself that it looked as though it took her new companion off guard. He cleared his throat and tugged his collar, “... you… uh, you like… came real fuckin’ close.”

Lup huffed and looked away, though it was less a petulant pout and more a thoughtful concession. Yeah, that had been bad, _really bad_ , and she was the free one. Taako… fuckin’, _her Taako_ was still trapped there in that hellscape. And he had been there for apparently _two whole days._

He’d traded places with her. Sacrificed himself for _her._

That was supposed to be _her_ lot in life… not the other way around. They took care of each other, of course, that went without saying, but when it came right down to it, she never in her life imagined they would be in a situation that Taako would have to lay his neck on the block for her.

She was supposed to be fuckin' _stronger_ than that.

“Erm…” The man near her cleared his throat again, “what’s… if you don’t mind my askin’, what’s your name..? What… what _happened out there.._?”

Lup finally looked back at him, directly, and when she did, he seemed abashed by her gaze. In fact, he actually looked away. As he did, he rubbed the back of his neck in what could best be described as a sheepish motion.

Weird.

She didn’t seem super keen on answering him right away, her expression twisted up in thought. Her gaze searched his soft features, noting the _uncertainty_ she could see in him. Lup and Taako made it a point to not trust anyone in this world, because what good had that ever done them, right..? They had each other and that was all that mattered, but… Lup was, admittedly, the more likely of the two to open up, but, despite that, she was still just as shrewd as her brother.

… but this man... He had saved her from dying in the snow with her gut split open. He’d given her his bed, he’d nursed her back to health and, well, he didn’t even _know_ her?

"What’s _your_ name?” Her question was so off subject it took him off guard again.

“It’s… uh. Barry. Barry J Bluejeans.”

“Okay, right… Barry… _Barold_ , can I call you that? _I’m going to call you that._ Barold J Bluejeans,” she sort of seemed to doubt him, “I see you live up to that, uh... title, huh?”

“I… mean, that’s fine, uh, I guess, it's not my name though. And, just by the way, there’s nothin’ in this world like a good, sturdy pair of jeans,” he pointed out, “but… so what’s _your name_ , then?”

“Lup.”

“Just Lup?”

“Yup,” she left it at that, “so, this is the inn, right? You’re bunking in a nice ass room. Where you travelling?”

Barry Blueajeans seemed, admittedly, a bit abashed by the sudden attention on _himself_ when he’d been the one asking her questions about _her_ situation that she left woefully unanswered.

“Uh, yeah… I travel a lot for my work. I-- I research magical phenomena.”

Lup perked, “you… _what now?_ ”

“Just what I said,” but he looked away from her, “so… like, you didn’t answer my question. My story isn’t, uh… all that interesting, really.”

“I mean, that’s not necessarily true.” She was still dodging, and Barry could see that easily enough.

“Hey,” he lifted his hands, “look, you don’t have to answer about what you were up to if you don’t want to. I think in a day or two you should be good enough to go… I, uh… I just travel the roads a lot, and if there’s somethin’ out there eviscerating high elves on the road, it’d be nice to know that ahead of time instead of well… you know, later on, when it really matters.”

Lup fell quiet. She searched his face again, her lips a tight line.

Trust, or don’t trust? Trust, or don’t trust? He said he studied magical phenomena, and there wasn’t a whole lot more magical and phenomenal than what had happened to her and her brother. If he could help her, even a little, then she’d have a better chance of saving Taako.

A better chance of getting back in there and kicking fucking Skeletor’s ass and burning that place _to the ground._

She sighed, “... okay, okay. I’m-- look, I’m not super in the business of trusting people, especially not strangers and _especially_ not people with the last name Bluejeans, but… I, well, I sort of don’t have a choice.”

Instead of quipping about how he had saved her life, about how she should be grateful, yadda yadda… instead of everything Lup _expected_ Barry to answer with, he nodded.

“I get that,” he scooted his chair a bit closer, “it’s… I get it, it’s hard to trust people in the world. There’s good people and then there’s … less good people, and there’s no way of knowing that without taking risks.”

“... right.” Lup was mollified at his sincere response, “right, okay… I’m choosing to trust you now, Barold Bluejeans, um, but only because I’m… I do need help. If you can.”

“I can try, sure. I’m all ears. Lay it on me.”

“... okay.”

The story that followed left Barry _reeling._

Lup explained her circumstances, the perilous circumstances that led her to being tossed into the snow by an interdimensional rift from a castle shrouded in necrotic energy. The circumstances that led her brother to be trapped, the snow-globe, necromantic effect that lead her to her prison… and the beast that prowled within.

Barry was pale. He was no longer looking at Lup, but instead at his free hand on his knee, which was white-knuckled.

“... I know, like, super spooky, right? _It was horrible_.”

“No-- I… Lup, listen,” he pushed himself away from the bed and to his feet, where he paced over to a work desk nearby, “... you’re trusting me. I… I gotta come clean with ya, I… I told you the truth, but I sort of left some details out.”

“Oh… _kaaay_ …” Lup didn’t seem entirely impressed by the fact that he’d kept a secret from her, “whatcha got?”

“Well,” he paused to sit his now lukewarm hot chocolate down and returned with a thick tome in his hands, “I do study magical phenomena, that part was true, but… I… I sort of have a focus on… Necromancy. Necrotic energy.”

Lup went through several emotions all at once... shock, excitement, hope-- and feeling them all at once was just too much, and foolishly she tried to sit up again--

“-- ah, _fuck--_ ”

“Careful!”

“I got it, _I got it_.”

“Um... I’m actually here because I’m looking for something mentioned in this book,” he tapped the cover, “... hey, uh. You want a cuppa cocoa, by the way?”

“In a bit, can you get to the stuff about this big old book? Please?”

“Sure, sorry, uh,” Barry approached and took his seat back beside her, and as he did, he flipped open the aged script to a specific page number that he seemed to have memorized, “it’s… sort of a big deal amongst necromancers and scholars alike.”

“Go on~” Lup leaned closer, eyes alight with ernest.

“Well, okay… so, apparently ages ago, there was a King, dunno exactly what of, sort of lost to the ages and, really, all that stuff is almost crazy archaic now, right? In any case, uh… his reign as King was supposedly almost over. He was human, so he had reached the end of his lifespan and had no children to take his place. The guy gets crazy obsessed with the idea of immortality and not losing his power, so he turns to _necromancy_ and becomes a lich, sort of the run-of-the-mill reason to become a lich, honestly… real cliche…”

“A lich, ugh… yeah, who even _does_ that? That’s some hella dark shit.”

“It is. It sort of mutilates your humanity and your very soul if you let it... _anyway,_ so, to become a lich and remain stable and aware, you need a very powerful memory or feeling to ground you, like an anchor, otherwise your soul will be consumed by the raw magic it’s trying to fuse with. Well, short story short, he… failed. That part. The biggest, most important step… totally beefed it.”

Barry paused and turned the page though really he had no need to, he wasn’t even looking at it as he told the story.

“So he became consumed with the very rage and greed that fueled his decision to begin with. He started hoarding power and using his necromantic magic to raise the dead, amasse souls-- to build an _army._ For _something._ It’s… well, when greed is the reason someone becomes a lich, it becomes the _very_ reason for their being. Same with this guy… anyway--

\-- he sort of drew the attention of all sorts, but particularly the one being, or, I guess I should say deity that could stop him… The Raven Queen.”

“So, okay… A Goddess, I’m following. Super jacked up lich dude goes on a powertip and gets smacked down by the goddess of the natural order of life and death.”

“Well, ‘smacked down’ doesn’t really cover it,” Barry shook his head, “apparently, yeah, he did _battle_ with the Raven Queen on this plane of existence, but apparently what happened after that no one really knows. Their conflict laid waste to his own castle and the lands surrounding it, but according to the whispers of Necromancy Circles all over the country-- it was actually a _stalemate._ ”

“... a stalemate against a _Goddess?”_ Lup muttered, disbelief on her tongue. Though she supposed she had no real reason to not believe him. She’d seen it with her own eyes, after all.

“ _Right?_ ” Barry tapped the open page before them, “apparently that stalemate was so great, whatever stopped the battle was _so powerful_ that they, according to legend, _just exist_ in permanent juxtaposition to each other. Trapped. No one knows how or why, but… that’s sort of what I’m banking on finding out. That sort of knowledge is like a goldmine, a lost treasure, a fountain of youth level sort of illusion to people like me.”

Lup was quiet, processing the story. Taako. Trapped in the castle of a batshit, power hungry lich king. Great. One that battled a _Goddess_ and didn’t absolutely get his ass handed to him.

“... and,” Barry continued after letting her absorb all he said, “... there’s stories all over the place about this necrotic field, but as far as anyone knows, this lich king just straight up vanished. Poof. Gone. No one knows what happened, really, but there’s stories of people goin’ missing and never returning, not even a body… and that’s pretty wild for these days.”

“So that led you here, then?”

“Well, sorta, yeah...” Barry closed the book and slid it closer to himself, “I’ve been trying to find this thing for a while, and my latest tactic has been tracking missing persons reports and funky magical currents. This village happens to be in the epicenter of a lot of both of those, so here I am.”

“Well, it’s your lucky day, ding ding ding, guess you fuckin’  _found it, huh?_ ” She deadpanned, not quite sharing Barry’s exuberance at the story and all of its implications.

“But, see, that’s just it? We’re both super fuckin’ lucky,” he got up again, “you-- listen, you don’t understand. _No one_ has ever come back from that place. No one’s been spirited away and lived to tell the tale. But here you are, kinda in one piece.”

“ _Mostly_ ,” Lup pointed out, “but… I… I mean--”

“You told me about the castle and the monster, but… um… You didn’t explain _exactly_ how you escaped, by the way,” Barry was fidgeting, “I’d… uh, really _really_ love to hear that, if you don’t mind?”

“I…” Lup paused,”he let me go?”

Barry was surprised into silence, his expression betraying confusion and shock all at the same time, “ _... let… you go.._?”

“Yeah, I mean… I told you my brother came and was trapped there now, uh… well, that’s because he traded places with me. And he let me go. Tore a portal right open and tossed me out like yesterday’s trash.”

“That… doesn’t…”

“Track? No, it doesn’t. Not with the character profile you just gave me for King Nasty.”

“... huh.” Barry wandered back toward his desk, “... I don’t get it. Letting someone escape is like the exact _opposite_ of what he should do. Is it some kind of trap? You said you ended up there on the path to the next town over, right? So it must have targeted your vitality… but I wonder why he’d pass up on _two_ victims. And then, on top of that, letting someone go who knows exactly how to get in…”

“Well, I don’t _exactly_ know, but I’m sure we can figure it out. I can tell you roundabouts where things got real hogwild weird… but… I don’t know exactly how Taako got in.”

“Okay. So… let me see, lemme see…” Barry was busying himself with making a second mug of hot chocolate, pacing from the fireplace to the desk, “so he let you switch places… maybe he figures you’ll come back? And maybe bring help? Like, if you care enough about your brother, obviously you’d try to save him, and more people equals more souls equals more power…”

“I mean, I guess, but… he, look, I don’t know how to explain it, he just didn’t seem that _into_ killing us.”

Barry raised a brow, pointedly looking from her face to her torso.

Lup huffed, “Yeah, I get it, he did a number on me… but he also seemed real _hesitant_ about it. Apologized when he did it, even. I… when he was having a one-on-one with Taako, he said we didn’t understand what was happening and that he didn’t _want_ to be doing what he was doing.”

“Weird, it’s real unlikely a lich that consumed in dark energy could have a change of heart, but I guess it _could_ happen…”

“Doubt it, honestly,” Lup looked away again, expression impassive as she pondered the new state of affairs she’d been presented. She was injured. Taako was trapped. Super powerful lich king. Dark, necrotic trap that she had no idea how to get back to… And it had been _days_ at least since she’d seen her brother.

Barry approached the bed again and offered a beat up mug of cocoa. Lup took it, warming her hands on the porcelain as she continued to muse over… well, everything.

“... Hey, Lup?”

“Shoot.”

“I know I said it before, but… I’d like to help you. Not just for my own gain, but I’ll concede that’s obviously part of it, but… I’d like to help you save your brother, too.”

Lup’s gaze met his, and his soft expression seemed sincere enough.

“... Yeah, I… I could use it,” she admitted, “I dunno that much about the perversion of necromancy--”

“-- perversion?”

“-- but I know how to torch a motherfucker for hurting my brother, so maybe between your big old nerd brain and my sharp wit, cunning, and raw power we can figure something out.”

“-- nerd brain..?”

“Uh, yeah, big time, sorry to break it to you. Can’t believe you’ve never heard it before.”

Barry sighed, but he was smiling, “Nah, I… I definitely have.”

Lup nursed the hot chocolate, a content sigh on her lips despite everything as she took in the sweet warmth of the drink.

And Barry… This _Barry Bluejeans…_ She kept catching him staring at her. When she’d meet his gaze, he’d glance away, neck a little pink. She’d think it was pretty cute, actually, if she weren’t so caught up with manifesting a plan to get back into hellsville to save Taako.

Finally, about the fourth of fifth time she caught him staring, she decided to break the silence again.

“So, what’s your M.O., then, Barry Boy?”

“... oh, uh,” Barry fidgeted his hands on his mug, “just to learn what really happened, I guess? What magic could be so powerful that it could trap the power of a Goddess and a wildly dangerous Lich King? Where did they go? Why did they just vanish? What’s holding the place together? I’m… I’m not _practicing_ necromancy, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just study it. Not a whole lot of people get involved with it that publish the knowledge freely, without using it for themselves, without getting _lost_ in it. It’s a wholly academic pursuit. I-- I guess my big old nerd brain might have something to do with it, huh?”

Lup snorted, “Yeah, I get you.”

“So… If you don’t mind my asking, how’d you two end up here? Delivering packages and stuff for shady innkeepers in a podunk town?”

“Nope,” Lup lifted a finger, “no tragic backstories. Not until we’re at least level 10 friends.”

“Uh-- okay. Sure. I understand.”

“Thanks, just know that right now my only, _only_ concern is getting my brother back in once piece. I need him to be okay. And, I dunno… I feel like right now, he’s alright, but who can say what’ll happen if that thing decides to pop his soul out like a pez dispenser and just do away with him..? I can’t allow that. No, I won’t allow that.”

“You care about him a lot, huh?” Barry’s expression as he watched her could only be called fond, “We’ll save him. How’s that? No whats or ifs, you don’t seem like a what if kind of woman… we _will_.”

“Oh, buddy, you don’t gotta tell me that. I already know. I’ve… just gotta… stop being, like, a dissected frog or whatever.” Lup leaned back, twisting her empty cup of cocoa in her hands.

“So, get some more rest. I’ll go downstairs and get some food from the kitchen, then we’ll hash out this plan, alright, Lup?”

“That sounds like a plan. As soon as I can stand without, uh, feeling like literal death, we’re blowing this popsicle stand and going to kick lich ass. Do…” she paused, “do… liches have asses?”

“... I… uh… I dunno…”

“Well, you _study_ necromancy, right?” Lup seemed impatient, “you outta know. Do liches have asses? It’s like... super important I know.”

“Why don’t we… um, Lup, why don’t we make that a secondary goal to our main objective, then? To… discover whether or not liches have asses.”

“Alright, you’re on,” Lup gave a cheery smile and a thumbs up from her position on the bed, and Barry seemed to redden a bit at the sight of her sudden exuberance.

He turned away, a hand on his glasses to adjust them, “Let’s get you fed.”

“Sounds dope. I… hey-- uh, Barry?”

Barry glanced back.

“... Thank you.”

“H-hey... don’t thank an old man like me just yet. Let’s… let’s worry about getting the deed done first, alright? I’d… I’d do it for anyone, honestly… not a super philanthropic act.”

“... well, you coulda just let me die in the snow. You didn’t know I was your golden ticket to the candy factory when you found me.”

Barry didn’t have a response for that… she was right. But he also couldn’t just let someone die alone in the cold.

“... alright,” he nodded, “alright. You’re welcome, then, Lup.”

“Okay, good… now, about that grub. I might be split like a chicken, but I am _starving.”_

“Got it. I’ll be back.” And with that, Barry trudged out of the room to head downstairs and rustle up some food.

As soon as Barry left, Lup very carefully swung her legs off the side of the bed. Her bare feet hit the cool floor, her bandaged chest revealed to the cozy air of the room. She realized she was quite naked under that down blanket, so she drug it with her, wrapped around her body.

It took some painful doing to get up. To stand was a meticulous and frustrating process. Shaky legs led her across the room, blanket trailing behind her, and she approached the small window of the room.

With a gaze determined, full of fire, she stared out into the storm. Save Taako. She would save him. She’d get him back, and they’d laugh this whole thing off, just like they always did. They’d tell the story to each other ten-fold over a fire in the woods. They’d act out their battle with the lich king and relish in the joy of another success, of another victory over the garbage their lives consistently piled upon them.

As soon as she could fight, she would. She’d use Barry’s knowledge to get in, and then she wouldn’t need him anymore. She wouldn’t need anyone.

Lup would not be caught again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako finds himself worse for wear in his room... there, he and Kravitz come to an understanding and an agreement about their plans to escape the hellish prison in which they are both trapped. Taako and Kravitz get to know each other. Taako has an unwanted visitor. Kravitz gives Taako a gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoo, boy. howdy. i'm so, so sorry about the delay this chapter saw. february wasn't a great month! i'm going to try and get back on track and update weekly again now. thanks for being patient with me, and though this chapter is conversationally heavy, i hope it was worth the wait! and i wanna thank all of you for the support so far! every comment means so so much to me! <3

When Taako awoke, it wasn’t to the warm glow of firelight or the sweet scent of hot cocoa. It was uncomfortable and pained and confusing.

His eyes flickered open, gaze hazy as he came to consciousness. As he took in his surroundings, he could see a dim ceiling, high above his head, obscured by the expensive, sheer silk of a bed canopy. Taako felt cool sheets curled around his limbs.

He shifted, and a screaming pain tore through his shoulder and chest.

_Ah._

There it was. It was all comin’ back in crystal freakin’ clarity.

The memories came back to him in waves… A rose. A storm of darkness. A bunch of ghost wolves, catacombs… and Kravitz. Kravitz who had nearly lost himself trying to save him. Kravitz who had sent him there in the _first place._

Taako knew where he was now. He was back in his room, well, the room gifted to him by his spectral captor. His spectral host?

Whatever he was.

“... Cool,” Taako mumbled out loud, effectively defeated by exhaustion as he slumped back into his bed.

Cool because, well, yeah, he was right back where he started, but actually _kind of cool_ because he wasn’t _dead._

And that was definitely a perk, he guessed.

In the process of rousing himself from his unconsciousness, Taako had failed to notice he had company in the room. A steady presence hovered a foot or so from the bed, Kravitz, who watched him as he came to, hands wringing near his chest.

When Taako seemed conscious enough to not be startled by his company, he spoke, a soft and uncertain tone to his voice, “... hey.”

Taako perked his head in his direction, “Oh good, you _didn’t_ maim me.”

Kravitz was patient, edging a bit closer to his bedside. Tentative hands extended, and after making sure Taako was alright with the gesture, he moved the blanket covering his chest and shoulders. He eyed with a critical tut the bandages around Taako’s wounded shoulder.

“Ididn’t… but you certainly did get a good dose of _maiming_.”

“Eh,” Taako turned his head away as Kravitz mussed with his wounded shoulder, “sorta… uh, sorta earned that one, I think, maybe.”

“... you may have earned it, but you… certainly didn’t _deserve_ it.”

Silence hung between them. Taako closed his eyes and arched his head away as Kravitz began to mess with his wound. He changed the bandages with meticulous movements, assessing the damage as he did so, all while bright red eyes darted between the wounds and Taako’s face, which twisted unpleasantly from time to time.

When he was finished, he drew back, disposing of the bloodied wrappings with a flick of his wrist-- they disintegrated into the air.

Taako finally turned back toward him and their gazes met.

“... Taako” Kravitz shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny, “I-- er… listen. … Taako, _I’m sorry_.”

“-- you--”

“-- lemme finish,” Kravitz interrupted him, though not unkindly, “... you… look, I understand that I… I overreacted. I’m… I’m not… hm,” he paused and seemed to be deliberating how to best word what he needed to say, “I’m not sooooo _great_ with the interacting with living beings thing. It’s been quite some time since I’ve been in the mind to and, well,  it’s been a while since anyone has been alive so long as you have, so freely allowed to wander this prison. I granted you that freedom, yeah, sure, I granted it to someone I didn’t know, someone who has the express intention to survive. Of course you would choose to not listen to me. Who am I..? What have I done for you but hurt your sister and let you out of a smaller cage into a bigger cage?”

Taako pursed his lips, but he had no argument. Not yet.

Kravitz continued, “I should have been more open with you about everything… I should have been _honest._ There are some things I cannot tell you, simply because I, well, I just can’t. But some things I could, but didn’t, because you’re right, I _didn’t_ trust you. You said trust is a two way street, and, well, I… hm… sort of… expected trust from _you_ when I didn’t really trust you _myself._ That’s… hardly fair.”

“True,” Taako conceded, “I mean, listen, you’re… I’m, we’re… you’re right. I don’t… _didn’t_? Still don’t, I guess, trust you. Why should I? Though, lemme be frank with you, I kind of wanted you to think I did so that I could do whatever I needed to do to figure this place out without your help.”

“... which makes sense,” Kravitz pointed out, “why wouldn’t you? You fully expect your sister to come back, right? And if you can find a way out, then… why not? You two are sort of a dynamic duo, I understand that… but then, what if she didn’t come back? You aren’t going to just sit around and wait for her. Who would?”

“I-- uh, I guess you could say that. Um, so,” Taako rubbed his face with the back of his hand, taking everything in for a moment, “so, listen… still, uh... Let Taako own his piece here, I-- well, I feel bad about setting you off or whatever, right? But… I’m going to pose a question for you-- you’re going to be _hones_ t with me now? Honest as you can, right? Because, I’m taking a big old swing here, in trusting you or whatever… and I’m… let’s see-- explain to me what it is you need, right? In real terms, this time, not some cryptic half-truths?”

Kravitz sighed patiently, “Yes. I… yes. I’m going to be as honest with you as I can. Taako, I… sort of explained it before, but… right now, more than anything, I need to feel a connection with a living being, I think. I know our brief interactions haven’t been quite, erm… the best they could be… but, imagine, I mean… I don’t really have them often, so our little meetings I guess felt like much more than they were. Taako, I put a lot of misplaced faith in you to do something that you _don’t owe me_.”

“You’re not wrong. About that. But, so, let’s see… So you, uh… you’re lonely, or..?”

“Well, yeah… I mean, in the literal sense, though it sounds a little, uh… lame when you put it that way, um… yes, I… listen I... “ Kravitz paused and examined the room, “... Taako, my _humanity_ is the only thing that keeps me from being completely lost to the evils of this place.”

“Ah. Aha. Ding ding, I was right then, you’re absolutely _not_ the one in charge here.”

Kravitz shook his head, “... unfortunately, no. But, I fear speaking of it too much will, erm… bring unwanted attention to us, though I suppose what happened in the catacombs may have very well done the same exact thing.”

“Yee-ikes,” Taako figetted a bit, before pointing at him, “I mean, to be fair, you did uh… sorta…”

“Tell you to go? I did. I know,” Kravitz inclined his head, “I… really am sorry. I… lost myself, a bit. I-- you… you did what anyone would have done. I wasn’t lying to you when I said those catacombs are the way to the exit, to the real world, but… they’re also the epicenter of a great evil, one I was willing to send you to like a lamb to slaughter, and that I regret… very much.”

“Yeah, well, thanks, uh... for bailing old Taako out of that kerfuffle.”

Kravitz cleared his throat and looked away, “... you’re welcome. Though, you did sort of save me too.”

“Eh,” Taako shrugged his uninjured shoulder, “sort of a saving you to save myself, situation, if we’re being honest here.”

“... _still._ ”

“So,” the injured elf adjusted himself to face Kravitz more fully, though the movements were meticulous and strained, “so, about this whole ‘humanity’ and ‘loneliness’ thing, then. Let’s hash that out. You said your humanity is the only thing that keeps you from totally losing it, right?”

“Right, right,” the spectral beast tapped a clawed finger against his jaw, pondering the best way to explain, “... I… well. It’s sort of a complicated situation, and one I can’t really explain in the best of clarity. … this,” a motion toward the walls of the room, “whole place is set in sort of a magical gridlock. It hangs on a thread, balanced between two magical powers… one of which is my own,” a motion toward himself, “and… that power wanes daily, yearly… I, Taako, I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.”

“Neato, that makes two of us,” Taako was obviously joking, but the joke fell flat upon his companion.

“... I’m-- listen, let me be serious for a second. Goofs and jabs can maybe wait?”

“As painful as that is… sure, sure.” Taako leaned back.

“... so, as I was saying, this shell is-- at the current moment, erm--... some things happened that I can’t fully explain, but this shell is very susceptible to the dark magic here. My vessel is compromised often, and sometimes…” he paused, a grimace easily read, even on an expressionless face, “sometimes even without possession, I-- … forget. What I’m doing, why I’m here. Taako, if I ever fully lost control, if I were ever taken completely, then that would be it for me, for this place, and the world would be in _great danger._ ”

“Right,” Taako pointed vaguely at Kravitz’s chest, which caused him to stop talking and glance down himself, “that red orb in your chest… it’s connected to that rose, right?”

“... Ah, yeh,” Kravitz moved a bit closer, “... yeah, hit the nail on the head, there. That… those… it’s sort of dangerous to talk about, but yes. That… that flower is the only thing keeping this place tethered to some sort of reality. The West Wing, the… the reason I asked you not to go there is because not even the dark spirits here know what’s there. They only know that whatever is in that room is keeping them from escaping, keeping me from being consumed… and as long as it remains, as long as my power connected to it remains, then… then the balance will also remain.”

“Okay, I follow… so, super dark magic, hokey flower that’s connected to _your_ magic, kind of in a permanent battle here, huh..? And you, uh, lose your humanity-- It makes sense, you’ve lost it a few times here on me, my man, I got that in perfect clarity.”

“Sorry, Taako,” Kravitz sighed, “I… have done many monstrous things here. The magic that keeps me tethered to my own mind struggles, and humanity, feeling empathy for someone else, just… just having silly, one off conversations with _you…_ helps me remember why I’m really here, it strengthens the side of myself that the monsters here cannot hope to touch.”

Kravitz watched Taako intensely before speaking again, “You-- Taako, your sacrifice to save your sister woke something up in me that I hadn’t felt in eons… I know, I know, you’re thinking ‘boy, that’s cheesy--’”

“-- oh how _right_ you are--”

“--but it’s true, and-- it’s… honestly, it’s the only thing I have going right now. I felt something I haven’t felt in a long time-- a genuine interest in the wellbeing of someone captured by the dark magic here. So I latched onto it. It… the thing keeping us safe,” he was careful to avoid the word rose now, Taako noted, “grew more vibrant, more powerful with each conversation, with each meal I brought you… I-- I thought to myself, ‘this is it… this is what I need.’ and in doing so I projected expectations onto you that weren’t entirely fair.”

“So, like,” Taako paused, pursing his lips as he considered the situation, “so… if you could cut that hole and pitch my sister out, lemme ask, since we’re both being honest here, is it _really_ impossible to do the same thing again? Like, just… curious, you know.”

“I understand,” Kravitz backed away a bit, skeletal fingers wringing near his chest, “... unfortunately not. That… doing that expended a lot of my power, and… was actually quite foolish of me, but-- like, not _morally_ foolish obviously, but… this place lures in victims for their souls, and very well could have escaped through the rift I created. I was only able to cast one soul out because I had another here in you, but even in doing so, the energy it took left my body very susceptible to… well,  the _nastiness_ , as I’m sure you remember.”

“Oh, for sure, how could I forget...” Taako wrinkled his nose at the thought, “So, okay… what now? Me bouncing is for sure off the table, you said uh… getting to know me, or whatever, was helping you. So, like, do you want a Taako character profile? A fuckin' character sheet? An auto-biography? Can’t say I blame you, that one there might honestly be worth some scratch one of these days.”

Kravitz chuckled and shook his head, and as he did, he approached again, settling in a seated position on the edge of Taako’s bed.

“Well, honestly, monetary gain isn’t really on my radar. I want to try this,” he motioned between them, “yes, for _my_ sake, but as I said before… kind of sort of for your sake as well. I’m on your side, Taako… I know you don’t trust that… but please-- Just… um, care to tell me a bit about what makes Taako tick?”

Taako pursed his lips, eyeing Kravitz critically.

“As tempting as that is,” he began, “... actually, yeah, that’s pretty tempting. There’s, um… listen, it ain’t glamorous. Well, some parts are. Most parts aren’t, but there’s for sure a _little bit_ of glamour mixed in there.”

“Well, tell me… whatever parts you feel comfortable with,” Kravitz angled his head, “I’d love to hear all about it. It’ll be a nice change, just… hearing about the outside world, hearing about _you._ ”

Taako deliberated for a while, ‘whatever parts he felt comfortable with’ wasn’t a great set of criteria for someone as closed as the elf before him. Honestly, he was equal parts compelled to share some of his story, because he had some _really_ excellent ones… and the other part was still curled in the corner of his mind, spiting the thought that Taako would ever even consider sharing some of himself with a total stranger, or… well, a total stranger _especially_ in these circumstances.

“I’ll tell ya what,” Taako finally said, “let’s play a little give and take here. I’ll give a little and you give a little. I get you have this whole ‘trapped in the doom castle’ schtick going on, but uh… surely you had some stuff going on outside here, right? So I’ll divulge some of the juicy deets as to what makes Taako ‘tick’ or what have you, and you do the same. Sound agreeable?”

“Hm.” Kravitz looked away, “... I… I’m afraid I don’t have much interesting to share.”

“Calling crap on that right now,” Taako pointed at him, lips twisted in a scowl, “you, for  _sure,_ got some _skeletons_ in that closet-- _”_

“-- I _cannot_ believe you’d make that joke--”

“-- yeah you caaaaaan.”

Taako winked, and as he did, Kravitz dramatically leaned back and slapped a hand over his skull, though, despite the excessive movement, he was chuckling under his breath.

“I take it back,” he huffed, “I guess I _can_ believe it.”

“Can and _should_ , my man.”

“Alright, well, so… so skeleton jokes aside, funny and original as they are, to get back to it, here, I-- erm, are you going to make me start, or will you start? There’s a lot of things I can’t tell you, but I’ll do what I can… how’s that?”

“So you’re in, then? Nice… nice, good, excellent…” Taako folded his hands over his own lap, “Alright then, I’ll… look, I’ll go first and we’ll just roll from there. I’m Taako,” he placed a hand on his own chest, “I’m a wizard, I specialize in transmutation magic, and, well… not to humble-brag, but sort of a virtuoso when it comes to cooking _and_ magic and everything in-between.”

“So, a magical chef?” Kravitz inquired.

“Well,” Taako paused, “sort of a travelling… a sort of moving-- ...no. Well, not yet? My sister and I-- erm, listen… I’m not so big on ‘tragic backstories’ or what-have-you. We live on the road, it’s not so bad as it seems, we, uh… depend on each other a lot, right? That’s obvious. I cook and do shows to keep a roof over our heads and she does mercenary work and picks the fights for us. Like, that’s the vanilla explanation, because there’s for sure more than just that, but…”

“I see. That does make sense. Living on the road isn’t easy, but the two of you seem to have it under control, right? Have you always lived on your own?”

“Ah-ah,” Taako waggled a finger, “not my turn anymore, kemosabe, time for Kravitz to _divulge_.”

“Sorry, forgot,” as soon as the attention shifted to Kravitz, he grew visibly uncomfortable, “I… uh… ahem,” he cleared his throat, “right, right. Sorry, I’ve got to kind of… I was expecting to learn about _you,_ not have to share things about me.”

“Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?”

“... ugh, alright. Okay. Before… erm, before all of this,” he motioned around them, “you… I… you were right before, when you said I had to have had a physical body. I did. I was mortal, once. I… when I was a mortal, I wanted, well, I wanted to be a conductor.”

Taako lifted a brow, “... like… music… trains…?”

“Y _es."_ But he didn't specify,  "However, those dreams were sort of… well, sorta obvious that didn’t pan out for ol’ Kravitz quite as I intended for it to.”

“I mean unless this is a big piece of performance art and all the furniture is gonna start singing showtunes at me… or this illusion is just a big cover-up for a Crazy Train music video, then no, obviously not.”

Kravitz laughed, a truly genial sound, “No, nothing like that. I… well, I _died_ and sort of got involved in a lot of _other_ things… and those led me here. To these… unfortunate circumstances. … now, before I go on, how about you, huh?”

“Gotcha,” Taako looked away, scowling, “... we’ve, um, well… we’ve been on our own for... a long time.” That seemed to be as far as Taako was willing to share.

“I see. It’s tough being on your own… You and your sister, you… you’re not so used to being apart, are you--”

“-- _your turn._ ” Taako interrupted, though Kravitz’s statement had settled upon him in an obvious way, a lower of his shoulders, and lips pursed just a touch too tight.

Kravitz softened, lingering on the subtle changes to Taako’s usually languid posture-- it was wearing on him more than he let on, he realized.

Taako was a very guarded individual, but he was also an adept actor. His casual and aloof attitude were a mask, a shield that protected a nervous and very dependent person… he struggled with this, with this situation, for all of its unknowns and danger, for being trapped and forced to be apart from Lup, to not know her wellbeing…

“... well,” Kravitz broke the silence that had fallen between them, “I… Something more about me… Um...”

Taako still didn’t look up. He had relaxed a bit at the shift of questioning, but he still seemed to be more far away than present, distracted.

Kravitz suddenly rose. Taako’s attention was roused, and he watched him inquisitively as he moved from his bedside.

“... I want to do something for you,” Kravitz spoke quietly, “sorta-- sorry, I know this is sort of sudden. Give me a bit, alright? I’ll be right back.”

“Uh, sure, not like I have much of a choice I guess? I’ll be here.”

“Right, right, I know, still… Just-- relax a bit, Taako.”

Taako watched him leave, brows knit. That had been all sorts of abrupt, but he guessed he didn’t mind the attention being taken off of himself and the vaguely sensitive subject matter.

He’d been too transparent, maybe. … but it was hard to be strong, to wear the disguise of apathy when he _felt_ so much right now. Afraid? Sure, tick that one off. Lonely? Well, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Scary was company, he guessed, but not the company he wanted. Worried? _For sure._ Kravitz spoke like Lup would be back, like her wounds wouldn’t be the end of her, and Taako was inclined to believe that, but the worry, oh, the worry remained. It poisoned his mind with anxiety-- the thought of his sister, usually strong, exuberant and beautiful, hurt and alone and struggling and dying… _fuck._

He pressed his palms into his eyes. No good. Don’t dwell. Don’t slip. Taako _doesn’t_ slip.

When he lowered his hands, he blinked blurred vision back into focus… and when he did, he realized...

… there was something in his room.

In the open doorway, which Taako swore Kravitz had closed as he left, sat a cat.

A black cat.

Taako locked eyes with it, with its wide, vibrant green eyes. It perked its ears at his acknowledgement, head angling in a graceful arc.

“... um, h-hail and… well… met..?”

The cat’s pupils narrowed, and it stood… with a lazy movement, bright white fangs flashed as the creature yawned, wide and deliberate. It turned toward the door then, glancing out and then glancing back at Taako, head tilted toward the exit. Its tail flicked, paws padding as it walked in a circle and then motioned toward the door again.

It was beckoning him.

“... Nooo… no no, no can do…” Taako mumbled, apprehension clearly evident in his entire being-- what was happening _now?_ What more bullshit was this place going throw at him? Was this what Kravitz meant when he said he had something for him, because he certainly didn’t see this as a perk.

The cat’s ears shot up, and its head swivelled as if alerted to something-- quick as the creature had appeared, it disappeared around the doorframe, but not before giving Taako one last pointed glance.

Kravitz was back, and he was cradling something in his hands, though, he was taken off guard by the shaken way in which Taako was staring at him.

“S… something wrong? Are you alright?”

“... what’s the dealio, man?”

“I don’t follow,” Kravitz glanced at himself, at his own cupped hands, and then around himself, “I… what’s that look for?”

“A _cat?_ You didn’t see that cat? Listen, buddy, I dunno what this is about but I gotta tell you something, I’m _super duper_ allergic to felines of all varieties, so unless you want me to truly suffer, which wouldn’t surprise me, then you’re either gonna have to pop me some benadryl… fantasy benadryl? Or that thing’s gotta stay away.”

Kravitz, for an expressionless being, looked downright puzzled. That puzzlement shifted into concern, and then an alertness, “You saw a cat? A _real_ cat? Right..? Right before I came back?”

“Yeah, a black cat even, really fit the aesthetic.”

“... there shouldn’t be any other living beings here, Taako. There’s no way. I would know. I’m attuned to the live souls in this castle-- I knew you were coming the second you crossed the threshold into this prison. … there’s nothing else here, so if you saw a cat…”

“Then it was an illusion?”

“That or something much more insidious…” Kravitz sighed and tucked the object he held in his hands into the front of his cloak, “I’m going to go and check around. I truly do have something for you, but I’m afraid that’ll have to wait a touch.”

“Sure, just, uh… yeah, okay. Do what you gotta. I’ll be here, you know, since I can’t be anywhere else.”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry.”

And with that, Kravitz was gone once more. Taako turned his cheek into his pillow and huffed-- right when the place started to make at least a little sense, a curveball had to come and knock all the perfectly lined up pieces astray-- at least _this_ time, Kravitz seemed just as perplexed.

And when Kravitz returned, he was _still_ perplexed.

“I searched the entire place, top to bottom… nothing. I don’t know what it is you saw, but I certainly can’t find it. This entire area is permeated by my own magic, so I should have felt if any other magic penetrated it… sort of a dual purpose security and aesthetic thing, see?”

“Love that, real utilitarian of you.”

“Thanks, but… just, I’m… concerned. Be careful. Keep your guard up. If you see something like that here, then know that if I don’t know what it is, then _you certainly_ cannot trust it.”

“All about that trust thing again, huh?”

“I mean it, Taako,” Kravitz sighed patiently and approached… he fiddled with the front of his robe, “... in any case, despite how concerned I am now about, you know, unwanted guests, I still want to give you something.”

“Well,” Taako sighed, straightening up, “time’s a tickin’, my man, let’s see--”

“... let me start by saying this is a bit of a stretch for me. I-- there’s a lot I can do with my magic _here,_ in this controlled space… but as for outside of this castle, there’s not much I can touch… but what I can touch is you--”

“-- woah woah, sloooow down--”

“-- not like that, first of all,” Kravitz huffed and reached a hand out to nudge Taako, “-- I mean your soul, your mind… I can affect those.”

Taako didn’t look entirely convinced or comfortable, so Kravitz continued, “I want to apologize to you again. I know this place is… well, it’s _hell._ And what happened to your sister… I… I did that, and I was somewhat in my own mind when I did, but… well, at that point I had no leverage. You coming here, you sacrificing yourself for her, it reminded me why I’m here, who I am, and what I’m supposed to be protecting. … I can feel your heartbreak at being apart from her, at not knowing her fate… and I’ll admit, I’m being honest with you when I say I don’t know where I sent her or her condition…

... but I think I can _show_ you.”

He reached into his robe and produced a shiny black compact. The surface was glossy, carved with a smooth spiral shape. Taako hesitated, looking between it and Kravitz before he finally reached out to take it… as he picked it up from Kravitz’s outstretched hands, he ran his thumbs over the cool outside, and felt the substantial weight of it in his palms.

When Taako opened it, he realized it was a mirror… He could see himself, and as he saw himself, he realized just how _busted_ he looked-- tired eyes, dull skin, hair a mess… “Yeesh--” He tilted his head a bit to get a better look at himself, and then he eyed Kravitz, “So, I’m sure there’s more to this than a ‘haha, you’re twins, I’m showing you your own face” joke, right?”

Kravitz chuckled, “Yeah. Though that is a pretty good one, shoulda thought of that one myself. … Taako, if you’ll allow it, that mirror should show you what you want to see. I’ll have to be in contact with you, if that’s… erm, if that’s okay. But through my magic, and your mind I should allow you a glimpse of the outside world. It won’t be as dangerous as tearing a rift in the barrier here, and it may be brief, but I want you to see her, I… I know this place is misery, but if I can ease that misery for you somehow…”

“I’ll do it,” Taako didn’t hesitate, “but is there any way you can guarantee what I’m seeing is real?”

“I… I’m afraid you’ll just have to trust me, sorry, I know… the _trust_ thing again…”

Taako teetered on the edge of indecision. The prospect of seeing Lup was exceptionally alluring, but the prospect that it might be a fabricated image was also less than alluring.

Finally, he sighed, “Let’s do it.”

Kravitz seemed to relax, “Alright.” His voice sounded sincere, although there was still an edge of nervousness to it, “I’ll have to touch you, is that okay?”

A bit surprised at the… quite polite request, Taako nodded, “Sure, knock yourself out.”

“Alright, I’ll be channelling a bit of magic through you… I’ll need your mind’s eye to make this work, since, well… You can’t do any magic here.”

With that, Kravitz approached and placed a hand on Taako’s arm, careful to avoid any bandaged areas.

Taako shuddered, Kravitz’s fingers were ice cold, and an odd mixture of corporeal and intangible, which was a whole ‘nother area of strange.

“Hoo, _clammy._ ”

Kravitz grunted, “Sorta comes with the package, sorry… so, focus, Taako… on your sister. Don’t take your eyes off that mirror, and… it should, hopefully, show you what you want to see.”

Taako returned his gaze to the mirror. In it, he could see himself. Expression bland, dark circles under his eyes, crinkled, unwashed hair over his brow… he looked exhausted, he looked hopeful, he looked uncertain.

… and then, he slowly began to look less tired. His eyes were alight with a laugh, a sparkle in them that carried to his wrinkled nose, his mouth, his mouth that curled in a wild exuberant smile.

And suddenly it wasn’t his face he saw, it was Lup’s.

Taako’s fingers tightened on the compact. _There she was_. She was swathed in firelight, she was in a bed, she was sitting up, a loose tunic over her shoulders, bandages peeking out through the mostly open chest. She was surrounded by parchment pieces and had a book in her lap-- a thick, musty looking tome, though she wasn’t paying attention to it.

She was looking at someone seated next to her… a man, though his image was hazy, fuzzed out by… something? Taako strained to see, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t focus on him.

But Lup… Lup was there.

Taako could tell where she was-- it was the shitty inn they’d been bunking in when all of this went down. Though, that room looked much nicer than their own, there was no doubt in his mind it was the same place. The floors, the walls, the ceiling… everything was the same.

Someone found her. Someone took care of her. Someone she was laughing with now-- which was an odd enough sight, who was she so comfortable with she could look so… _easy going_?

It didn’t matter. What mattered was she was safe. She was alive. She would come when she could. She was formulating some kind of plan... He had to be ready-- _they_ had to be ready.

“... Taako,” Kravitz was near, peering into the mirror himself, though he saw nothing but their reflections, “... you know, you… erm-- you have a beautiful smile, when you truly mean it.”

The vision faded. Taako was faced with himself in the mirror, looking stunned, looking rosy in the cheeks at the sudden and earnest compliment.

Kravitz fidgetted and removed his hand from Taako’s arm, “A-anyway-- I, erm- I assume you saw what you wanted to see?”

“Hold on,” Taako snapped the mirror shut in his hands and rounded on Kravitz, “before we get into that, let me leverage something here for you-- let’s talk more about just how beautiful my smile is, huh?”

“C-come off it,” Kravitz huffed and waved a hand dismissively.

“No, seriously, I’m sorta into it. Like, on a scale of 1 to the most beautiful smile you’ve ever seen, where would you rate it?”

“Boy I’ve made a mistake, haven’t I?” But Kravitz was laughing, “Seriously, Taako… you wouldn’t have been smiling if you hadn’t seen something good. How is she? Is she alright?”

“... yeah. She’s alright. She’s with a man, someone I couldn’t quite see.”

“Ah, well, unfortunately working through you, the magic can only really see things that you can recognize.”

“Gotcha.” Taako took some time to mull over this, fidgeting the compact from hand to hand as he thought, “... alright, Kravitz,” he looked at him directly now, “... you… listen, you really have a plan to get us out of here?”

Taako sounded so sincere that it took Kravitz off guard. He and Taako’s gaze met, and neither of them backed down as they stared into each other, “... I do. It’s risky, and it’ll require not being caught by the spirits here again, but… I think I know what I need to do, or, well, I’m piecing it together...”

“And you need _me_ to do it?"

“I absolutely need you, Taako.”

“... then let’s do it.” Taako didn’t break eye contact as he spoke, “I’m in 100%... I’ll help you. Let’s bust out of this crapshoot. Together. Deal?”

Kravitz watched as Taako extended a hand toward him, and for the first time, he felt like Taako truly meant it. He would help him. They could work together and trust one another to figure this out.

He took Taako’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, which Taako returned.

When they let go, they both nodded to one another.

“I’ll keep working on this, Taako… my first goal is to change as much of this castle to a habitable zone as possible… for you, and also because it keeps the darkness at bay. Sort of a… magic versus magic situation, you know?”

“Right, well, I’ll, uh-- keep… keeping you company then, I guess? Bo _yo_ , that sounds, that’s sorta,” he blew a raspberry with his lips, “ _l_ _ame._ ”

“You’ll be able to help much more than that once we get this ball a-rollin’,” Kravitz nodded, “my second goal is to get you your magic back. Third is to figure out more fully how to harness the power in-- erm… the place I told you not to go to but you… went to..."

Ah, the West Wing… the Rose… right, right. Though, he did find it disheartening that Kravitz just blatantly admitted he didn’t… _know_ how to harness the power there.

Kravitz looked thoughtful, glancing back toward the doorway, "And I suppose a fourth goal is... finding this stray cat... whatever or wherever it may be."

“... For sure, um… we can maybe bump heads, huh? I know you’re iffy on the whole ‘divulging secrets’ thing, but--”

“-- I want to, it’s just dangerous. For now, let’s follow this path and see where it leads… is that okay with you?”

“As long as that path doesn’t lead straight to hell or whatever, Taako’s on board.” The bedridden Taako gave a thumbs up to punctuate the statement, and Kravitz was practically beaming, though he was an expressionless beast skeleton.

“... alright. Get some more rest. Once you can move and get up on your own, we’ll figure something out together. You haven’t been out that long, I’d say another day or two and you should be back in good shape, at least good enough to get around.”

“I got it. Loud and clear on the resting thing, I mean, that’s basically all I can _actually do_ right now, so, like..." He popped his lips, "moot... point.”

Kravitz chuckled, “... true enough. I’ll come check on you again in a bit… and bring you some food, even though, well, I guess, bein’ a chef and all, you uh… probably aren’t so crazy about it, huh..?”

“It’s… uh, well, when you’re _starving and all…_ ”

“I get it, I get it,” Kravitz shook his head, “... We’ll talk more in a bit.”

“It’s a date.” And Taako winked.

“A-al… alright then-- uh… erm, um, goodbye, for now, Taako.”

Flustered, Kravitz left the room. Taako laughed to himself, “Got ‘im.”

… But then it was quiet again.

It was these long stretches of quiet that disheartened Taako the most. He didn’t like to be alone, a fact that Taako and Lup both knew since they were infants. Of course, small stretches apart were no problem, especially with the promise of one or the other returning, but, now, when countless days had passed, when there still hung in the air the chance that he may not see Lup again, that he may never even see outside this castle again.

He sighed.

Meticulously, Taako rolled onto his side, tucking his uninjured shoulder beneath himself. In his free hand, the black compact sat, open, on his palm… though, of course, he knew the magic wouldn’t work now. He only saw himself, tired but now more hopeful. Just a bit.

He’d help Kravitz help him. That was the plan. Kravitz meant him no harm, and now, despite himself, he trusted that to be fact. It was still dangerous, things could still go wrong, but for now, he had hope. He’d seen his sister, laughing, warm and safe… he had a spector that could control the magic of the castle on his side.

And he had himself, with all of his own wit and his own cunning… no magic, but that would be next, right?

In that moment, for the first time truly since arriving, Taako allowed himself to relax, utterly and completely. He felt a small peace of mind that he hadn’t felt in days. These hopes were no longer fleeting glimpses, it was a fully realized vision that he latched onto with all of the strength he had.

… He’d make it out. He’d be alright.

He settled into the silk pillows of the bed, eyes falling hazy as he stared at his own reflection in the compact mirror still resting in his relaxed hand.

And as his vision blurred, as he felt the comforting warmth of true rest… as his consciousness drifted from the present to a state of meditation, he saw two bright green eyes staring at him from the mirror.

And then sleep overtook him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako and Kravitz have earned a brief moment of relaxation. In the interim, they learn more about each other and grow closer. Kravitz gives Taako a surprise gift, and in turn receives the best fucking meal of his life, or, well, undeath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not dead. i'm alive. i'm so so sorry for the gap between chapters~ thank you guys so much for leaving encouraging comments and sending me nice messages both here and on tumblr. it honestly brightens my day to hear that people are enjoying this story! this is a much needed light-hearted chapter, and i hope that it was worth the wait!

Taako healed much more quickly than either of them had expected.

Elves were resilient. A day or two more of meditation in bursts, and Taako was ready to be back on his feet. The wound inflicted by the wolves, or rather, _barghests_ , as Kravitz had properly defined them, was stubborn and messy, but now it was well enough that he could move his shoulder and abdomen with only minor pain.

And that was good enough for Taako. He was ab-so-lute-ly fuckin’ tiredof being trapped in bed.

Though, it wasn’t that he didn’t have decent company. Kravitz was making quite good on their previous agreement, and in the time that he wasn’t prowling the castle in search of rouge cats and spirits, he stayed with Taako. It was a welcome reprieve, not being left absolutely alone, and Kravitz was actually quite amiable.

… and also a huge, gigantic dork.

They spent a long time talking about interests, sprinkled with some snippets of their pasts. Frustratingly enough, Kravitz still wouldn’t completely divulge just  _what_ his line of work was before he became trapped, but he did mention that it was an important job and that he saw a lot of the world while doing it. Which, as it happened, was something the two of them had in common.

They exchanged stories, grandiose and sometimes maybe a touch conflated. The twins were quite a duo, Kravitz learned, and they had spent almost their entire lives alone. They did what they had to do to survive, even if it was over the top heists and playing the parts of different people and almost destroying an entire village by maybe, possibly, accidentally setting a manticore on it.

‘ _Oh no, we defeated it, it was all good!’_ Taako told a not entirely convinced Kravitz.

Kravitz also divulged a bit more and a bit more about himself as the conversations passed, though he was much more content to sit near Taako and listen, chiming in here and there where Taako allowed it. Taako was _more than willing_  to talk about himself, excluding the more tragic bits of their childhood, but he did pry here and there to get more from Kravitz.

These conversations often ended with Kravitz sheepishly admitting some tidbit of his life outside of the things that led him to be trapped here. One conversation ended with Taako nearly doubled over laughing, practically in tears as he recalled a story where he was out gambling, a favorite pastime of his, Taako learned, and betting high and betting wild… what he didn’t realize, he recalled sourly, was that he was being played, being overserved, and he ended up...

Losing, well,  _everything_.

‘ _They took all I damn well had, even my fuckin’ trousers!’_ It was hard for him to speak over Taako’s wheezing laughter.

Their conversations continued as such, winding through days of rest and healing, until Taako was finally well enough to get out of bed.

“Bedrest time is o-ver,” Taako grumbled as Kravitz guided him shakily to his feet.

“Well, I sure do hope so,” Kravitz spoke in a paced tone, hands lingering on Taako’s arms as he found his sea legs, slowly but surely, “I, erm… gotta admit, I don’t really wanna see you laid up anymore.”

“Not in the gameplan,” Taako steadied himself and took a deep breath, “I’m done, uh, with the whole helpless thing.”

Kravitz angled his head.

Taako continued, “Like, I get I’m still kinda helpless, or whatever… comparatively. But as far as, like, right now, in this moment, I’m going to hit the ground running or, something close to it.”

“Maybe some… baby steps, first,” Kravitz sounded bemused as Taako took a few test steps around the room, “so… what’s on your itinerary now that you’re up and moving?”

“A fuckin’ bath, first of all,” Taako leaned against one of the posts of his bed, waving a hand, “y’boy is dis.gust.ing. Then, uh-- we… do-- well,  _whatever_ your plan is, right, near as I can figure?”

“Right, right,” Kravitz cleared his throat and glanced away, “I sort of, well, following that, I… once you’re ready, I- um…”

“ _Go on…”_

“I have a surprise for you.”

Taako clapped his hands together and sidled just a touch closer, “Oh, do tell?”

“Well, I can’t, then it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Kravitz drew back a bit under Taako’s sudden intense scrutiny, “so… when you’re done getting ready, getting coiffed and what have you, I’ll take you to it.”

“A little, eensy hint won’t hurt, right?” Taako leaned in even further, “like, just a tidbit, a morsel, a little taste~?”

“Absolutely not,” Kravitz pressed a cold, weirdly corporeal feeling hand against Taako’s face and pushed him away, “you’ll see when you get ready, alright? I want to… I want it to be a treat, really… what with you finally being able to move around and… well, to just make you feel more at home.”

Taako batted at Kravitz’s hand, but allowed himself to be pushed away, “home is sort of, uh… sort of a relative term, really. This,” a vague motion at the room, “s’bout as close as the traditional ‘home’ can get for me, so, like…”

Kravitz hesitated, looking around the room and then back at Taako, “... I’m… not sure how to respond to that… I-- well, how about just make you… comfortable then.”

“That’s a stretch, homie, but we’ll see what we can do,” Taako winked and then wandered toward the bathroom, “I’ll… yeah, sure, let’s see this surprise. I’ll be out in a jiffy.”

“Take your time, I’ll be waiting near the staircase for you, alright?”

“Sure, sure.”

…

Normally, Taako would take his time and lavish the ability to bathe and pamper himself, but the promise of a surprise being dangled over his nose like a treat rushed his actions. It didn’t take him long to be clean, dried and obnoxiously well-dressed.

Honestly, he had to admit, compared to the last few days he’d spent here, he felt about like a million bucks, or as close to it as someone could, given his situation.

He could  _move_ and his sister was safe and he had an alliance with someone who could, presumably, aid in his escape, and, well, he wasn’t a total drag to be around either, which was for sure a perk--  _Especially_ without all the horrifying personality changing possessions.

Kravitz,  _just Kravitz,_ was… alright.

Taako left his room about an hour after Kravitz departed, which, for Taako, was a humble amount of time. He saw Kravitz where he promised he would be, at the bottom of the grand staircase, but he only caught his attention briefly before it was drawn elsewhere.

His gaze moved to the grand castle that surrounded him now. The magic that transformed the horrifying hovel into a tolerable space had spread, and it had spread so far that now Taako couldn’t even  _see_ any of the dilapidated castle that hid beneath the illusory magic. It was warm and comfortable and… damn, Kravitz had been  _busting his chops_ to make this place habitable, hadn't he?

Taako trailed down the staircase, hand drug over the polished surface of the banister, whistling in appreciation, “You sure have… put in the finest, my man.”

Kravitz seemed chuffed by his praise, “It… well, I did make a promise to you, that I wanted to help you help me, so,” he motioned toward the castle behind him, “... I wanted it to be fit for, erm… fit for a prince, y’know?”

“A… prince, huh?” Taako said in much too lilting a voice for Kravitz’s comfort, “If I’m a prince, what’s that make you?”

“I-- um-- m… me? Me?”

Taako didn’t pick the thread of conversation back up, pacing past Kravitz and toward the rest of the castle, “So, about this surprise?”

“Ah, r-right--” He was much more flustered by that than he would ever care to admit, trailing behind Taako as he wandered through the main hallway, “w-well, we’re sorta going the wrong way, um, for that… if you’ll come with me back past the stairwell, it’s there.”

Kravitz led Taako down a passageway that had been completely caved in before. Now, it was a completely undamaged and cozy hallway, lined with lanterns that crackled pleasantly as they passed.

Taako gazed about but with a sort of expression that read as only about halfway interested in this, but more interested in  _what happened to be waiting for him._

The pair approached a door at the end of the hall, and Kravitz cleared his throat, “Gonna need you to close your eyes, okay? And no peeking, because I absolutely know you will.”

Taako looked affronted, a dramatic hand slapped onto his chest, “ _Me? Peek?_ Why, I’m  _appalled,_ I thought we were working on a relationship built on trust here?”

“Oh  _God_ ,” Kravitz snorted, “okay, you got me. I’ll  _trust_  you to not peek, okay?”

“Good answer.” Taako lifted his hands and planted them squarely over his eyes.

“Right… Right. Okay.”

A cool hand came to rest on Taako’s shoulder as the door before them was pushed open.

He guided Taako in a few paces before releasing him,“... alright, Taako… go ahead.”

Of course, he wasted no time in dropping his hands from his eyes and when he did he was faced with… well, it was quite the sight.

A kitchen. Not just any old kitchen,  _an immaculate_ kitchen. A kitchen fully equipped with everything an elven chef could ever need or want for, and then some. Shining marble countertops… a huge, pristine stove. A set of shelves that lined the walls, decorated with jars and jars and jars labeled with the names of various spices… Taako’s gaze darted from here to there, and he immediately began to investigate… he ran his fingers over the counters, watching his own reflection in the surface as he passed by… he pulled pots and pans and knives and tools out of drawers and scrutinized them, and after looking content with the state of them, he moved on to the icebox.

Inside was a menagerie of fresh ingredients. Fruits, vegetables and meats filled the vast space behind the latched door.

Taako turned around to face Kravitz finally, who was watching him sheepishly, waiting for his response.

“I… I do hope you like it,” Kravitz began, “I know it’s… It’s just a kitchen, but you said you truly enjoyed to cook, and I know the food I’ve had to offer you has been pretty sub-par as far as, well, taste goes… This way you can do something you enjoy without limits, and you can eat food the might actually be palatable--”

“Oh, Kravitz, ohhhhhh Kravvy-boy--” Taako said whimsically, “I’m going to pull out all the stops, now. I’m-- listen, you’re in for a treat. I’ll pay you back with a bit of a show, right? Like the full Food Network treatment-- Ohhhh, if I could use magic, you’d be in for  _one hell of a performance,_ but que-sera-sera, you’ll, uh, you’ll have to make due with just a regular, mundane, muggle sort of fantastic show.”

“Well,” Kravitz said, “I think that anything you do will be… quite magical, even in its own right.”

“Ooo, like that, big big praise~” Taako seemed mollified by this response, and began to pull things without hesitation from the icebox.

Kravitz hovered around, watching him assemble his utensils and assess the spice rack, “I do hope it’s everything you need.”

Taako pondered this briefly, “Think you’ve got the bases more than covered, but, let me… can I ask you something? Sort of an off the cuff question but… like, I’m making some logic leaps here and I can’t really wrap my head around something.”

“S-sure, something the matter?” Kravitz wrung his hands.

“If this place, the  _whole_ kitten caboodle, is an illusion then… like, how is any of this food here? How are you cooking?”

Kravitz chuckled and shrugged, “... oh, don’t… don’t worry about it,  _plot holes_ and all that, right?”

Made sense to Taako, “... sure, okay, sure. Got it.”

Taako swirled a whisk in his hands and turned toward the vast array of tools now at his disposal. He had a body that could move freely, he had energy, he was unburdened by the intense uncertainty and despair he felt about his situation… and so now it was time to fuckin’ flex his muscles, show Kravitz exactly what he could do.

And Kravitz, well, he was eager to watch, honestly. Everything that Taako did was interesting, and perhaps that was amplified by his lack of amicable relationships with living beings, but the idea of watching him cook was quite appealing.

He wasn’t much of a chef, himself, but even he could see the level of skill Taako brandished with ease.

He didn’t miss a beat, ingredients spread on the counter, a meticulous eye for detail as he cut, as he put a pot of water to boil, as he juggled sauteing and mixing and checking temperatures.

Though, Kravitz did flinch, just a bit, when Taako would obviously be reaching to use his magic… once or twice, he dropped the ingredients in his hand right to the floor--

“Fuck-- You didn’t see that--” He’d flourish as he knelt to pick it up and discard it, a cheeky smile on his face despite his handicap, “sorta used to burnin’ them spell slots while I’m doing this… muscle memory, you know?”

Even worse was the obvious favoring Taako did to his uninjured arm… he wasn’t completely healed, that much was for sure, but it didn’t seem to slow him down as he cooked and cooked as if his life depended on it.

… bad turn of phrase, really.

But even through the various obstacles presented before him, Taako looked  _happy_. He looked like he was having fun. He looked intensely concentrated even while cracking jokes and mumbling things about how ridiculous some conventions of cooking were, and the ways in which he’d found to turn them on his head, to make them  _his own._

And for all the callousness, all the false bravado and snark, he had a smile that radiated. It was a toothy grin, a cheeky grin, but a grin that  _felt_ real. It felt good and happy and strong.

Kravitz couldn’t help but feel enamored. And that feeling was foreign and that feeling was wild. It was a pang of warmth in a swirling darkness, of coldness that permeated to his core. All his life he’d known cold, and right now, he was relearning warmth. In fact, he was  _relishing_ in it.

Maybe that was cheesy. Maybe he was a fool. It’d be alright, he was alright with that. He would count his blessings that he at least felt  _something._ Because if there were something this elf were inadvertently good at, it was making him feel things. And that meant a lot to someone who hadn't felt anything but hatred, but anger, but desperation for years.

Taako was sweating. The kitchen was hot, and he was working harder than he’d worked in quite some time. While he told himself it was just because he was flexing long unused muscles, maybe, just maybe, he was trying to impress his host. A little. Just a tad. 

Though he’d never admit it, even to himself. It was nice, the way Kravitz’s ghastly form swirled after him, watching with, well, he  _figured_ it was interest. He laughed at all the right times, he commented on his technique, he asked questions with an invested curiosity.

It was... real nice.

... What a fucking _idiot._

And as abruptly as he’d started cooking, Taako suddenly stopped. He whirled around to face Kravitz, brows screwed up with an intense thought that seemed to come from nowhere.

“Hey,” he said, “hey, um… I just realized, I’m gonna need you to leave.”

Kravitz was reasonably shocked by the sudden turn of heel, “What? Really? I mean, of course, I will if you need me to… but--”

“Yeah yeah _yeah yeah,_ you have to go. I can’t, listen, half my magic here is in presentation, and I can’t have you here while I put it together. Sorta loses the whole ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ thing when that happens.”

_Oh._

Kravitz laughed, relieved, to an extent, “Gotcha. I thought I might just be gettin’ on your nerves there,” he fidgeted his hands together.

Taako noticed he did that  _a lot_ lately. There was just something almost comical about a big, hulking, scary skeleton beast man looking all  _timid,_ mussing his hands together like a nervous kid.

“Nah,” Taako wiped his brow with the back of his arm, “um, how’s… how’s about 30 minutes in the dining room? Just wait for me there.”

“Alright, but--”

“No buts! Shoo! Go! Begone!”

Kravitz made a movement equitable to an exasperated eyeroll, “alright, sure thing.”

And he made good on that concession, heading for the exit of the kitchen, though he took pause right before he left, “The dining room, right?”

“Correctomundo. You got it.”

“So… you’ll meet me… at the  _dining room_?”

Taako pursed his lips impatiently, “I know you’ve not got, like, actual ears up there, bone-man, but you’re absolutely hearing me right.”

“Sorry, can you… can you clarify exactly  _where_ that is, Taako?”

Taako froze, looking up, down, then back at Kravitz, “... uh--”

“I mean, just in case I lose my way or something, if you follow me.”

Taako was stuck. See, this, this here, was a trap. Kravitz had shoved him right in a trap. He didn’t have a clue, of course he didn’t… but, did he admit that? Absolutely not. Even though he and Kravitz both absolutely knew he hadn't a Goddamn inkling where the dining room actually was.

“Well,” Taako cleared his throat loudly, a little obnoxiously, and rocked on his heels, “I guess uh, I guess that’s a problem, yeah, if you lose your way, this is, like… sorta your castle, sorta your house kinda… if you uh, can’t find the fuckin’ dining room, that’s a-- a big problem, for you, right?”

Kravitz chuckled, “Well, I guess I’ll have to manage. Pretty sure it’s down the grand hallway, on the left, but can’t ever be too, too sure, huh?”

“Sure, sure, uh, how about you skedaddle now before I lose that golden window to get this stuff plated--”

“See you soon, then.” Kravitz sounded way too damn cheeky as he swirled from the room in a mass of spectral robes.

…

Kravitz obeyed Taako’s request, waiting a punctual thirty minutes (how long had it been since he had had to actually  _time_ something?) before showing up outside the grand dining room doors. He drummed his fingers together, uncertain if he should just barge in, or knock, or… Gods, being  _uncertain_ about things was also sort of an alien feeling.

Before he had a chance to question any further, the doors before him clicked and creaked, and they opened seemingly all on their own. He was stunned-- how did Taako do that without magic at his disposal?

Right as he asked himself the question, he heard the faint sound of someone running, and then someone panting--  _Oh._

Oh, right, he… fuckin’ ran and opened the doors and then ran  _back to the damn table._

“Haa... hm, ahem-- ahem-- Good evening~ It is with  _deepest pride_ and  _greatest pleasure_ that I welcome you tonight… and now I invite you to relax,  _pull up a chair,_ as your chef proudly presents--  _your dinner~_ ”

... and then silence.

Was… something supposed to happen? Kravitz was altogether stumped as he stared into a pitch black room, only vaguely able to make out the shape of Taako at the table, arms open in a grand pose… in the  _dark._ It was  _very dark. Like,_ ridiculously dark.

He heard Taako clear his throat, heard him shuffle, “Listen…” His voice was a frustrated mumble, “ _listen_ , do-- do a guy a favor, alright? Can you… can you magic the lights back on? Sorta, um, ruins the moment, but I had to put them all out by hand, and uh… didn’t think that through, really, I’ll be first to admit.  Working-- we’re working with what we’ve got here. Need... uh, I need a dramatic reveal.”

And Kravitz barked a laugh, a genuine laugh, and he could have doubled over on himself with the motion had he allowed it, “Ah-- haha- sure, right… Got you covered,” and with a vague hand motion, the torches in the dining room illuminated with a bursting crackle of flame.

Taako missed his beat. He fumbled, wincing at the bright lights, an arm thrown up to defend his eyes, “-- _a countdown would have been choice--_ ”

“What was that?”

“Take a seat, Kravitz, and  _enjoy~_ ” He was back on track, hands a dramatic flourish as he presented his work, an absolutely  _immaculate_ spread of food, enough food for maybe an  _army,_ much less one elf, “after all, it’s like my Auntie used to say, ‘ _when you’re stressed, it’s fine dining I suggest_.’”

“I… erm-- right-- I--” Kravitz made his way into the room, and he regarded the seat Taako made motion toward, pondering the concept of  _sitting_ as a semi-incorporeal beast… but he went through the motions anyway, awkwardly folding his hands on the table in front of himself.

“There’s a little bit of everything here, thought I’d cover all the bases, you feel? There’s some beef ragu, cheese souffle-- oh, hey, I know it’s a stretch, but that gray stuff? You gotta get you some of that nasty gray stuuuuff, my man, secret recipe, it’s  _delicious._ ”

“Taako, this-- this is  _absolutely incredible_ looking--”

“--uh, natch--”

“-- but… I, I admit I… I didn’t expect you were making the food primarily with me in mind, y’know? Um-- I figured this was more for  _you--_ ”

Taako looked perplexed as he regarded Kravitz, his nervousness, and then his food… and then Kravitz, and then his food… and then it seemed to click, and his bravado faltered a bit.

“ _Oh_ \--”

“I’m sure it’s all delicious!” Kravitz saw his face fall and immediately leapt to the defensive, “It  _smells_ wonderful, it looks like a five-star spread, for-for sure-- I-- it’s just-- I… I don’t know--”

“-- you can’t eat.” Taako deadpanned.

“I don’t know if I can or not-- I haven’t… In this form, I haven’t--”

“Oh-- oh, no, it’s  _fine--”_ but as he spoke, his voice cracked, and he draped a dramatic arm over his own eyes, “I’ll… I’ll just have to-- I’ll just have to  _eat it_ all myself--”

_Crocodile tears._

And yet, even though Kravitz  _knew_ that, he still lurched forward and clasped both of his skeletal hands around Taako’s free hand, “I am going to do my very best to eat as much of this food as I possibly can, whether I physically can do it, or not.”

Taako froze, the arm that had been draped over his eyes slid down… and he locked gazes with a very intense looking Kravitz. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, Taako’s fingers curled in the semi-corporeal coldness of Kravitz’s hold.

“Um--” Taako broke the silence first, “I dunno if this is just you… like, stalling so that you can figure out how to put your money where your mouth is on this whole eating thing, but-- uh… holding hands with you, I mean, it’s nice, yeah, but-- sorta-- like, you’re a big ghost man, it’s kinda…”

Kravitz was quick to release him, and awkwardly he looked down, “Right, uh- right, sorry, sorta popped that personal space bubble, huh--”

“N-- no, I mean, that’s fine and all,” despite himself, the highs of Taako’s cheeks were pink, the tips of his ears flushed just a touch, “just uh, kinda cold, kinda… there and not there-- a lot to get used to, you know?”

“I-- I gotta admit-- It’s weird to… touch someone so warm…”

Taako’s ears pinned back, and he cleared his throat, “So-- the whole eating thing, yeah?” A swift dodge.

Kravitz leapt on the subject change desperately, “S-serve me up, chef, let me get at some of this, huh?”

“ _Try_ to get at it--”

“-- I’m gonna fuckin' eat it, Taako.”

With a shrug, Taako obliged, snatching up a plate and twirling it between his fingers, “Alright, a bit of everything on the menu for the eldritch nightmare~”

And Kravitz was presented with a heaping plate of food… and Kravitz  _ate._ Admittedly, it was yet another unusual and alien feeling for him, eating food,  _tasting_ things… but he _could_ taste, thankfully.

Taako took a seat to his left, helping himself to food here and there, though he mostly watched Kravitz, absolutely amused by the image of Kravitz bringing a fork up to that grand, toothy, fanged maw… even as he fought the urge to absolutely bust out laughing at how ridiculous he looked, he was also gauging his responses as best he could, considering the sort of nature of Kravitz’s bony visage, “Well~? Five star yelp review, right?”

Kravitz took pause, a fork awkwardly in clawed, bony hands, “... it’s... so damn good, Taako _. Like,_  ridiculously good.”

“Yeah, you’re sorta chowing down over there, my man… where are you putting it all? Wait, wait wait, lemme guess, it goes right through you, huh?”

“Ha. Ha. Funnyman. You’re a funnyman. You should have a job doin' comedy.” And yet, both of them realized, but didn’t point out, Kravitz failed to actually elaborate where the food was going.

“Anyway, you didn’t even a little bit conflate your skills. You’re unbelievably talented.”

Taako looked thoughtful, uncharacteristically so, “Well--” he shrugged, “skills like that are how you survive when you have nothing.”

He said it so nonchalantly, and Kravitz was completely stunned by his bluntness.

“I-I see… well, it’s… you’ve got--” He struggled with the abrupt tone change.

But before Kravitz could get himself together to finish speaking, Taako’s gaze had moved past him… and when it did, his eyes widened. He leapt to his feet in a snap, almost knocking his chair out from behind him.

Right behind Kravitz, a pair of green eyes glowed in the shadows of the doorway. A lanky, sleek black cat got to its feet, stretching claws on the marble floor, staring through Taako, tail swishing in the air.

“There-- it’s-- right there!” Taako could hardly get his words out as he bolted past Kravitz, who swirled out of his seat after him.

“ _Taako-_ \- !!”

“The cat-- it’s, _there it is_ \-- !” The cat darted out of the doorway as Taako ran toward it, and he was swift to skid around the corner after it. After all, he could fucking  _move_ now. He wasn’t bed ridden, he wasn’t trapped, he could chase it, he could  _catch it_ now. He was going to  _catch it._

A black shadow darted around a bend in the hallway, and Taako rushed to follow-- but slammed into a cold arm.

Kravitz was before him, blocking his path bodily, teeth clicking in agitation, “You can’t chase it! You don’t know what it is!"

“I can finally catch the damn thing-- listen-- I--” Taako tried to move to the side, but Kravitz was impassive.

“No-- You, you  _cannot._ That’s  _not my magic, so it’s not safe._ If there’s something permeating the barrier of magic I’ve laid here, then it's too dangerous."

“Did you at  _least see it?_ ” Taako was exasperated, and after a failed attempt to duck under Kravitz’s arm to get past him, he resigned himself to being stopped.

“... I didn’t. Taako, I didn’t see anything.”

“I’m not-- Listen, I’m not  _crazy--”_

“I don’t think you are. Trust me, I don’t. I believe you. But-- It’s not… it’s not safe, especially now, especially now that my powers are strengthening. Especially now that you’re getting  _well_ again. I can’t-- I won’t let you chase that thing and get hurt. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

The admission hung on the air, rooting Taako in place. Kravitz realized what he said, but he refused to be abashed by it, holding fast to keeping him trapped there, keeping him from chasing this phantom creature that tried to spirit Taako away.

“... okay, right, got it… not much of an animal guy, anyway, um… don’t have magic, so I, uh… yeah, not a great venture, chasing it.”

“I’m sorry. I want to catch it too, I’d like to even just  _see it._ It concerns me even more that it only appears to  _you._ I can’t sense or see it… I’ll-- I’ll have to try harder, obviously. I’ll broaden my search… I’ll-- I’ll keep you safe.” Kravitz sounded quite serious, so Taako relaxed.

“Easy, big guy, you’ll-- you’ll catch it, you got the whole beast dog thing, and, yeah, dogs and cats and stuff, right?”

“Not… that’s not… okay.” Kravitz gave up on fighting his not-so-great analogies and lowered his arm, more sure now that Taako wasn’t going to take off on him.

In fact, Taako sighed, stretched, and turned back toward the dining room, “Alright, more pressing matters now… I’m used to using  _magic_ to clean up, or… like, at least the buddy system. Lup cooks too, see, and we usually take turns-- chef cooks, diner cleans."

Obviously, Taako was trying to lighten the mood. Kravitz had a hard time settling down, nerves on edge, gaze darting toward the hallway the cat supposedly fled down. He’d like very much to give chase, himself, but he couldn’t risk leaving Taako alone and unsafe, not now.

“... so are you implying I have to clean up?” He finally asked.

“I mean, unless you’re going to make your esteemed guest and chef and  _wizard with no magic_ to do it, Mr.’I-Can-Bend-The-Shape-Of-Reality?’”

Kravitz finally relented and followed after Taako, floating alongside him, “I get it, I get it. Ol’ Kravitz is on janitor duty.”

“Well, unless, like, the furniture is gonna come to life and clean it up for us, you sorta got no choice in the matter hombre.”

“I mean, it’s-- It’s not outside the realm of possibility.”

“On second thought,” Taako wrinkled his nose, “let’s not go down that route. Let’s blow right past the exit into cartoon musical territory.”

Kravitz laughed, “You sure? Not to boast, but I’ve got a pretty good singing voice.”

“You know, I’m actually so sure right now… Like, I think I’m more sure than I’ve ever been in my life.”

As the two of them continued to quip, as their banter filled the warm hallway leading to the dining room, as their retreating backs turned fully away… a cat stepped out of the shadows and watched them go. A lazy yawn flashed white, dangerous teeth in the semi-darkness, and as the two finally vanished from the creature’s sight, the cat  _smiled._

... and vanished back into the darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako's lingering doubts lead Kravitz to open up to him about some of the truths he has been keeping a secret. A candlelit dance brings forward emotions that Taako doesn't know how to deal with, but absolutely cannot deny feeling. The elusive black cat returns, and it has come to finally say hello.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, hey, y'all like mushy stuff? this here's a heapin' dose of mushy stuff. it took long enough, right? i hope you guys are ready for the next few chapters to be intense, because shit's about to get buck. wild.
> 
> ps. there's some dope ass art in this chapter from nickleerie on tumblr. god it's so good i could die.

Kravitz searched the castle as thoroughly as he could, and yet he found absolutely no trace of a black cat.

It shouldn’t be that hard, really, to find an animal where there should be none. The knowledge that something existed that only Taako had seen was vexing and alarming to him; it was an unknown that threatened the entirety of their plan and even further the connection he had been meticulously building with Taako.

The two of them searched high and they searched low, and yet the illusive beast refused to show itself.

This left the two of them understandably on edge, but where there was no obvious threat, Taako took time to explore the space of the castle more fully. After all, he had the freedom to go where he pleased now that he was healed, so long as he didn’t travel outside the realm of Kravitz’s magic.

Though, despite this, while the ability to leisurely go where he pleased was well and good, he did wonder just _what_ the point of all of it really was?

Kravitz was still so vague... About fuckin' everything, really. He said this and that and the other about bonding with Taako and that being what he needed, but he still had nothing concrete to go by, just a mishmash of encouragement that bordered on completely intangible in the grand scheme of things.

What good was it really doing? Where was the plan to get them free leading?

Honestly, Taako was tired of waiting. He wasn’t a certified go-getter, that was more Lup’s territory, but he was formally exhausted by being trapped in a place he couldn’t leave and, more importantly, tired of being away from his sister.

… but he had promised to trust him, which was hard, like, super-duper hard but he was trying to have a little faith in the mysterious monster that promised over and over that things were happening, plans were in motion, and he would set them free.

Instead of mulling over the unknowns and various other negative thoughts, he occupied himself with lounging in the study, or tinkering with a large piano in the drawing room, and also by cooking, by god, he cooked his own _food_ and it was _marvelous._ He continued to cook for Kravitz, of course, though he insisted repeatedly that it wasn’t necessary.

Didn’t really matter so much in the grand scheme of things, anyway, because Taako didn’t know how to only cook only for himself, so Kravitz got food, and it was _so very good_.

Their shared moments of conversation continued, as well. Mostly over meals, sometimes over steaming mugs of tea, which was quite comical to Taako, watching a skeleton monster sip a delicate tea cup. And, holding true to their promise, Taako opened up more and more, at least as far as his standards went, yet, Kravitz continued to be… less so.

One evening, Taako stood in his bedroom, and Kravitz hovered nearby. They had just been talking, chit-chatting about this and that, and yet now, silence stretched between them… And though it wasn’t an uncomfortable or awkward silence, it was one that was heavy and seemed quite difficult to break.

“Ahem, _hey,_ ” Taako finally took the plunge, though while he did, he busied himself in his wardrobe of gifted clothing, “so… uh, can I… can I ask you something?”

Kravitz, who had been spending time trying to not obviously watch Taako as he moved, looked quite suddenly put on the spot-- that was never good, was it, _asking_ to ask a question? Taako did that a lot, and tt was the sort of statement that automatically springboarded him right into anxiety.

“U-um, sure, of course you can… what’s… up?”

“Don’t gotta sound all wormy on me, my man, I was just... “ he paused, and seemed to be reconsidering, “... wondering, um… so, uh, this here wardrobe… really choice, all of this, but, uh… did _you_ sort of arrange this assortment with me in mind, particularly, or was it just fashion choices you pulled out of the proverbial hat?”

“Oh,” Kravitz said, an edge of hesitation to his voice, “sorta… sorta fifty/fifty, there. I just kinda went with stuff I thought would… er-- … would look _good_ on you?” For whatever reason, he hadn’t been expecting that question, but it was still sort of an awkward one to answer regardless.

Taako didn’t seem all that bothered, pleasantly surprised, actually, would be a better descriptor. His lips popped into an ‘o’ shape and he straightened up, “Well, I gotta say, fair bet. Too bad it’ll all be gone once we, y’know, blow this popsicle stand.”

Kravitz grew quiet, head angled down, searching the floor for words.

Finally, he answered, “... well-- I mean...”

“Anyway,” Taako interrupted, “So, got another one for you... You’re a pretty extra guy, right? I kinda pick that up from the sorta… y’know, nouveau hot topic vibe this whole place has, plus these clothes, like, I get you’re, right now, sorta rag n’ boning it over there but… that’s not _you,_ the _real you_ right? Not really? What sort of style did you rock before? You _had_ a body, so, like...”

Taako was pushing. Hard.

Kravitz looked a touch uncomfortable, “... No. Well. Yes..? Um… It’s complicated.”

“ _Is it,_ though? You don’t have to share, I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s fair.” Even though Taako sorta wondered if it was. They were supposed to be _trusting_ each other and _getting to know_ each other, right? How much did either of them _actually_ know? He knew he _liked_ Kravitz, right? Quite a bit, if he were being honest with himself, and yet… there was this barrier between them, even now.

“... It is.” Kravitz danced around the concession for quite a time, “I’m sorry. I know… I know I’m still being secretive, and you’ve certainly picked up on that… I want to be forthright with you but right now just isn’t a great time-- not until I… get everything figured out, myself. What I once was and what I am now might not be the same anymore, and might never be the same again.”

Kravitz was serious, he paced his words with a thoughtful beat, and they were strained, a resonating sadness echoed with them that rooted any response Taako could have had. For the first time, and perhaps it was foolish it took him so long, he realized the true depth of despair Kravitz felt here.

Taako was a prisoner, but… so was Kravitz… for much longer than Taako, even, for a stretch of time that he couldn’t fathom, for long enough that he forgot who he was and needed the companionship of someone like him to remember himself.

“So... “ Taako broke the heavy silence, “can you make _anything_ appear here? Like, if I had an itch to wear something specific, just as a sort of example, can you make it be?”

“... yeah, probably,” Kravitz came back from a woebegone sort of stupor, visibly relieved for the change of subject, “what sort of outfit do were you thinking?”

“Well, that sorta depends on what occasion I’m dressing for, my man.”

“... occasion..?” The tone of his voice changed, almost completely… it went from a tempered sadness, a weight of remorse, to… curious and thoughtful, reflective.

“Yeah, I--”

“An… occasion… Um, hey, Taako… I… listen, I think I have something in mind, actually, an occasion...” he edged closer, and he began to fidget his hands together in the way he did when nerves were getting to him, “but… um… I sort of… Let me level here, can it be a surprise? I know, another one, but--”

“Sure, all about those surprises… so, okay, what’s the, like, just general vibe, and we can go from there?” Taako had perked, the notion of _yet another_  surprise alluring in so many ways.

“Hm… sorta formal. I tell you what, um… I’d kind of like to pick something myself, if… that’s not too much? Is there anything you’d be absolutely uncomfortable with wearing? Any-- um, any sort of thing that you’d just give a hard pass to?”

“I mean, you can go buckwild my man, I really don’t mind.”

“... alright, alright. Okay. Check that wardrobe in, say… like five minutes. Then will you meet me downstairs? In the drawing room?” As Kravitz spoke, his voice grew simultaneously more and more excited and also nervous, a sort of a weird cocktail of emotions, to be sure, but it was certainly there.

“Sure, don’t sweat it-- not that… uh, you can, do that, actually… nevermind, yes, drawing room, yes, I’ll be there.”

Kravitz sighed, for some reason relieved, as if Taako might have turned down the invitation, “See you soon.”

When he took his leave, Taako allowed himself some measure of introspection. It was sort of a rare pastime for him, but right now seemed as good a time as any. He was… just maybe being unfair with Kravitz, right? He was expecting this and that and the other from him when, well, his situation was obviously much more complicated than his own.

He was a prisoner, yes. So was Kravitz. He was a circumstantial victim that had been spared a fate potentially worse than death, hadn’t he? And yet, Kravitz… Kravitz was a much different sort of victim, near as he could tell. He was at odds with some sort of magical force, used as a tool to do unspeakable things, obviously… and now, now he was staging this coupe with Taako at his side and, maybe he needed to level some, sure, but how could he expect him to..? Would _he_ if he were in Kravitz’s shoes-- er… robes? Cloak? Whatever.

When there was that much at stake… how could he relax?

Taako thoughtlessly opened the wardrobe, frustrated with his own wishy-washy attitude… and with as much speed as his thoughts had been racing before, they immediately came to a halt at the sight of the outfit Kravitz chose for him to wear.

…

It was a strange string of fate that brought Taako and Kravitz together. A tumultuous struggle between life and death… a prison of both mind and body, spirit and soul that was violently and pleasantly interrupted by laughter and joy and a reminder of the humanity that exists in all of us. Truly, Kravitz thought that humanity had long left him… he had forgotten it entirely in the many years he spent trapped in a darkness that consumed him with absolution.

When Taako clumsily stumbled in, with him came a spark, a flicker of light in an otherwise abysmal life; it was a light of sacrifice, of bravery, and of choosing to do the right thing, even if it meant the end of his existence. It was a steadfast beacon of hope that did battle with the miasma of despair that pervaded all of Kravitz’s senses and the very core of his being.

It was that reminder that led Kravitz to where he was now, waiting outside the door to a drawing room in a castle that had served as his prison for years innumerable. He was nervous and excited and harboring feelings that he’d long forgotten how to feel but was remembering now, remembering with a clarity that chased the demons of his mind away, that gave him something to hope for, something to protect.

Taako stepped down a winding staircase in a castle transformed by magic wearing a dress that shined like the night sky. It shimmered with silver sparkles set in rich blue silk that draped over him in folds lovingly envisioned, that fit him like a glove and trailed behind him in ripples reminiscent of dark water, as he reached the bottom, heart in his throat, a feeling that he didn’t understand and had honestly never felt in his life.

Kravitz waited for him outside the door to the drawing room, and Taako realized that he too had changed… the tattered, dangerous swirls of cloak that normally billowed behind him ominously had been tempered, now a heavy, silk cloak fastened instead at his shoulders with silver chains that flowed with an easy elegance around a dangerous, skeletal form with a grace that seemed so alien on him that it almost inexplicably looked _right._ His chest was revealed, the bright red glow of a core held between ribs, suspended in dark antimatter illuminated, no longer hidden, power thrumming off of it in waves.

“Ah,” Kravitz bowed his head a touch when Taako reached him, searching him for a moment, lost for words, “... you--... you look sorta like a dream, Taako.”

Taako felt warmth on the highs of his cheeks, but he laughed, “And you clean up real nice for a big skeleton monster.”

Kravitz scoffed, and as he did, his hands began to come together, to fidget, to reveal his nerves… but before they could, Taako reached out and took Kravitz’s hands into his own.

“So, what did you have planned, huh?” He asked, casual as he could, though he could hardly mask the smile that curled on his lips, the toothy grin that revealed his exuberance and excitement about… well, whatever was about to happen.

“Right… um, right...“ Kravitz didn’t pull his hands away… Instead, he used them to guide Taako into the room, which was dim, but bathed in rich warmth, lit only by a few hovering candles and a fireplace in the grand mantle that crackled in invitation, “right… I… erm…”

He led Taako to an armchair and released his hands, “... Taako. … you… I… you’ve given me so much of yourself, I… feel as though I should give you something too. It’s only fair, and… well…” Kravitz backed away, and without looking snatched up a bottle of wine from a nearby side table and poured Taako a glass, offering it.

Taako took the glass, though he looked more curious about Kravitz’s intentions than he was interested in the wine, “... okay, go on, do tell~?”

“I… I will, I am, of course… _ahem_ ,” He cleared his throat and drew away, sweeping toward the centerpiece of the room, which was a grand piano that had remained mostly untouched, save here and there by Taako, the entire time it existed, “I mentioned to you before that I used to want to be a conductor, and… I’m, honestly, quite well versed in music. I even used to compose my own pieces, though… it’s been a long time. Even longer than the time I’ve spent trapped here, and even longer than the time before that, but... I… wanted to share some with you, since you’ve been so generous with me.

“I’ve sort of come to understand that the both of us, we’re… similar, in a lot of ways… we’re guarded and careful, and maybe even a bit scared, at least in my case… there’s a lot that still has to happen before we’re both set free, and I’ve been giving you a lot of superficial things, but you’ve been… giving me the gift of yourself, and I’ve given you little in return that quite, uh, measures up to that… so, Taako, I know this isn’t quite to the same scale as a grand meal, but… I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.”

Without waiting for any response from Taako, because any hesitation might break his nerves and stop him, he placed too large and too dangerous clawed hands on the delicate keys of the piano before him, and with a gentle movement that he had forgotten he was capable of, he began to play.

The piece was clumsy at first; it missed beats, here and there, and a wrong key pierced the flow of music occasionally... but with each misstep, with each mistake, came the remembrance of a dream and a talent that he left behind long ago… the fumbling steps of his music found grace like a foal learning to run. It was a shaky walk at first that led to weary prancing... that led to falls and trips and then led smoothly to a graceful run.

He didn’t look up at Taako the entire time he played. The swell of music built and built until he was playing without thinking, muscle memory taking over, the fact that he was performing for someone else cast to the wayside as he remembered all of the things he’d long let go.

It was a performance full of earnest and honesty and Taako could _understand_ it, could hear the language of a musical piece with no words. He didn’t need them, he didn’t need anything to understand the door this opened into Kravitz’s heart, the vulnerabilities he was laying down on the table for Taako to pick apart, but trusting, _trusting_ that he wouldn’t.

Taako sat his half empty glass of wine to the side and got to his feet, and when he did, Kravitz finally looked up from the piano keys to lock gazes with him.

At that moment, he saw in Taako an understanding and… a loss of the usual mask he wore, of the carefully put together facade of bravery and false bravado, and instead he saw the things he saw in himself… uncertainty, a fear of the future, and a determination to move forward despite those things… and, something else, he realized… something that he also cultivated in himself, something he almost doubted seeing-- a fondness, a relaxed sort of affection for… _him._

For  _him._

And… he felt it, too.

He knew he did, knew he _had_ for some time… at first, he wondered if it was just the loneliness of being lost to the darkness for so many years that gave him those feelings, and perhaps at first they were, but… now he knew it. He felt it with a clarity so sharp it could push the air from his lungs if he had them… he cared _very much_ about Taako, and now, just maybe, he could see that Taako felt something similar.

When Kravitz rose from the piano, part of his magic remained behind. Phantom hands continued to play, even as he approached Taako, even as he bowed his head to him and opened his hands in an invitation that didn’t need to be spoken for them both to understand. The music came with such ease that he could simply play it without looking, without fearing a mistake, because… that fear was long gone, now, lost in the eyes of someone who looked at him like he might be more than just a _monster._

Taako’s hands came to rest, warm and alive, in the cold, dead hands of Kravitz. He didn’t flinch at the feeling, even as Kravitz drew him closer, even as one of those hands slid to his hip... even as he swept him into a waltz that neither of them knew how to do properly, but they found easily either way, as clumsy as their meeting, as clumsy as the steps that had led them to this very moment.

But it was okay, they were clumsy _together._

It started slowly at first, a languid sway among floating candles that parted ways for them as they moved. With each step, they found confidence, with each movement, a comfort built between them… a physical trust that manifested amongst the emotional trust they had been assembling all this time, that moved in step with it. In time, before either of them knew it, they were spinning through the room with ease to the soothing melody of a song Kravitz played without thinking.

Romance was never something that Taako ever thought he would find, or ever even knew that he wanted… and certainly, the prospect of trusting someone enough to be tender with him, to be vulnerable with him, would have been absolutely laughable just _days_ ago, and yet now, now, in the arms of a monsterous skeletal man, he found his heart pounding in a way it had never before, found his stomach full of butterflies, found himself wondering just what the fuck he was doing but also, quietly, privately, wishing for it to never end.

“... Taako,” Kravitz asked, fangs by his ear, the cool feeling of his skull brushing against Taako’s cheek as they moved, “...thank you.”

Taako drew back as their dance slowed, and from a few inches apart, they stared at each other, searching one another’s gaze for something that neither of them were sure what was.

“... yeah, of course, um…” Taako glanced to the side, searching for words, before looking back, ”hey, uh--... “

Kravitz waited, though his hands tightened just a touch on Taako.

“... I… I gotta ask you… is this, like… this whole thing here, this… what we’re doing here… is this still for business, or uh... more for _pleasure_?”

Kravitz considered this for a moment, and the hand that had slid down to Taako’s waist released him to trail up, to linger in the air before carefully cupping his cheek, “... what is it for you?”

Taako hesitated before leaning his cheek into the cool touch, “... healthy balance of both… I think…”

“Yeah,” Kravitz lowered his hand, “yeah, that works for me.”

It was a concession that made the lingering emotion they both had all the more real-- that they were working together, they were trying to find a way out of the prison that trapped them, but they were also cultivating these feelings, these thoughts that neither of them knew what to do with, but it didn’t matter now, because they _both_ felt them.

“... Y’know,” Kravitz mumbled, “you’re real lucky… a witch cursed me to have two left feet… real fortunate for you that I don’t have any right now.”

Taako snorted, “Hey, that might be why this here is workin’ so well, because let me be honest here, I don’t… do the whole sort of ballroom dancing kind of thing we’ve got going on right now. At all. Ever. So it… so it sort of works in both our favor, both ways, right?”

“Seems that way…” And as Kravitz spoke, as the piano music filling the room died down, he finally released Taako and ceased their unity, backing away, though his eyes never left him.

“You… you know,” Kravitz spoke again after a long pause, “My story, my tale… it’s as old as time, you see, intertwined with the fate, the life and death, of innumerable others… and I know I’ve told you before how lucky I am you came here, that you saved me from the darkness that kept me trapped, but… I’m also just lucky to know you, as a whole, I reckon.”

Ugh, what happened to awkward Kravitz who, like, couldn’t do things to absolutely shake Taako, who couldn’t make Taako question himself and his feelings, who couldn’t make Taako’s heart _pitter patter?_

“... Yeah, I guess you kinda are lucky, like, statistically speaking, what’re the odds someone like me rolled along, huh? Like, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m pretty fuckin’ special.” He was joking, but only a little bit… mostly, his own energy seemed to be flighty and uncertain.

Kravitz was feeling brave. He was feeling emboldened by the intimacy, the closeness, the breakdown of barriers that the two of them just shared. He reached forward and took one of Taako’s hands back into his own.

“I want to show you something,” he said firmly, staring through Taako, who seemed to shrink a bit under the intense scrutiny.

“Sure thing, thug, lead the way.”

Kravitz had learned enough about Taako to know that even if he did want to open up, he would fight himself. The second that they separated, the very second that his song was over, Taako had gone back to aloof, to jokes, to dodging him… which was fine, but… Right now, Kravitz was _bold._  He needed to be open with Taako, he needed to erase any doubt Taako might have in his mind about him or his intentions.

So he led Taako from the room, and Taako obliged, not letting go of his hand as he guided him back up the winding, grand staircase, and down the long stretch of hallway which led to the place he’d been expressly forbidden to go:

_The West Wing._

Taako looked from Kravitz to the door and from the door to Kravitz as they approached. The last time Taako had set foot there, the consequences hadn’t been _super_ great for him, and Kravitz had been so angry he’d lost himself to the monstrous magic that possessed him, which was something that hadn’t happened in a while, so he was loathe to see it happen again.

The hallway leading to the West Wing was as pristine as the rest of the castle, but as soon as they reached the doorway, as soon as Kravitz pushed the doors aside, it was obvious that his magic hadn’t touched the inside of the room.

Icy air escaped as soon as the doors were cracked, and Taako shivered at the familiar feeling of the true, desolate nature of their prison. The floors were still damaged, still crumbling in places from a force of impact that didn’t seem to exist. The stones were cold, dirty and aged, and furniture remained in broken heaps around the perimeter of the round room.

And still suspended in the epicenter of the destruction was the purple rose that Taako had been so tempted by before. Where the light coming off of the flower before had just been an ethereal glow, now it _radiated._ The full petals pulsed with energy and the red core that sat in the pristine petals glowed with a violet intensity. The twin headed raven clutching the flower continued to scream at the heavens, holding a rose that seemed to be twice as full and twice as powerful.

Kravitz pulled Taako into the room and turned to face him, his free hand lifting to hover near his chest, where the glowing orb that sat suspended in his ribcage pulsed… and as it did so, so too did the center of the rose behind him. With each throb, with each flicker, they were in sync.

“Taako, I know you said before this was hokey, that this was… a joke to you... But you didn’t understand, and…I-  I didn’t try to help you understand, and… I’m sorry for that. You’re doubting me, I can… I can still sense it, even through everything, you’re trusting me to have a plan, but I’ve had nothing to show for it… but this, Taako, this… is what I have to show for it. What _we_ … have to show. This is what we’ve done here. This is what you and I have done together.”

As he spoke, he turned to face the glowing flower, and his hand tightened on Taako’s, “This is my power, Taako. The humanity you brought back to me, remembering who I am, what I’m fighting for… having hope again, these things have strengthened it. … And soon, soon I’ll set it free, and soon we’ll escape.”

Taako took in Kravitz’s words, gaze darting from his intense stare to the powerful flower, encased in opalescent crystal behind him, “It’s… _you?_ ”

“... yes, it’s me. It’s… part of me, it’s arguably the most important part of me… it’s the…” Kravitz stopped talking, and turned to stare at the flower himself, fingers squeezing Taako’s as he moved, “it’s… the aspect of a goddess, and the very core of my power, the thing that makes me Kravitz, makes me… the emissary to a Goddess… it’s trapped there, protected from the shadows. And for centuries, it has grown weaker and weaker as I lost myself to the dark magic here. Without it, I’m a shell of my former self… I’m far too weak to properly fight back against the evil, too weak to escape… I use the magic here, the magic of my foe, to my own advantage, because for a while, we were one in the same… this vessel is easily taken by its magic… and so too can I _take its_ magic. You’ve given me the strength and resolve to do all of this.”

“Woah, woah, pause, hit the pause button, rewind that statement right there, a… _Goddess_ ? You… uh, you’re like, a _demigod_ or something? And you… wound up stuck in a shithole like this?” Taako, for once, seemed appropriately shaken by something, and watched Kravitz in wonder.

“... I am. … It’s a complicated situation that led me here, but… for all intents and purposes, yes… I did. Trapped here by fate with my foe…”

“Huh.” Taako retreated into deep thought, tapping his chin, glancing from Kravitz to the orb in the center of the room, to Kravitz, “so… I’m going to paint a picture here, okay, of a scenario I’m putting together, um… I gotta make sure, like, clearly make sure here… I’m _wooing_ the aspect of a Goddess, right?”

Of all the things for Taako to say, Kravitz hadn’t expected that one.

“Uh-- I-- w-... wow-- um,” Kravitz stuttered, clearing his throat, “you… I-- you’d think I would be _used_ to you just throwing stuff out there all willy-nilly, like… just pitching it to the wind.”

“You’d _think._ ” Taako agreed sagely.

And yet, Kravitz was determined to not allow his bravery to go to the wayside-- he’d allowed himself to be so vulnerable with Taako, to… soften up with him, to admit these feelings, be they permanent or be they fleeting, and… he wasn’t going to just let things slip by so easily.

Kravitz tugged Taako’s hand, which neither of them had made movement to separate, and guided him close and Taako obliged, a coy, curious look on his face as he slid an arm around him and…

_Hugged him._

It was weird. It was cold. It was like hugging someone who was vaguely there and also very much not there… the bones of his wolven jaw, his ribs, his skeletal hands… they all felt real, but coated in a… well, _soft_ wasn’t the right word, but… a spongy ectoplasm.

But to Kravitz, to Kravitz it was _warm._ Taako felt alive, warm, soft, _real._ The realest thing he’d felt in so long came with Taako, both physically and metaphorically.

“... I guess you’re right,” he admitted into Taako’s hair, “‘m not sure how it happened, lemme be honest… but it did. Taako, at first, all I wanted was to be free, and I thought you could help me do that, and… yes, after a time, your freedom became important to me, too… and I want us both to be free from this hell, to defeat the evil here and resume our lives, but…”

He trailed off… Taako’s heart was hammering, and he was sure Kravitz could hear it but he remained impassive, expression vaguely curious at best as Kravitz drew back and looked at him more fully, “... but I’d like to resume my life with you in it, Taako… for the first time in forever, even before being lost to the shadow here… for the first time in my long, long life I… would very much like someone to _stay."_

Taako couldn’t answer. His head was swimming, his chest was pounding, and his stomach had leapt into his throat. He would be the first to admit he didn’t know how to deal with these sorts of things; usually heavy emotions were brushed off or made into a joke, easily dodged by Taako’s impassive nature, but right then he couldn’t even think of a goof, a jape, or a single roundabout way to turn this around.

Kravitz was serious, every bit of what he said was with an earnestness that Taako couldn’t ever hope to deny.

“I-- um, er, l-listen, I--” Taako stuttered--

\-- but, before he could work together any semblance of a response, something changed, and it changed fast.

A wave of energy rushed over them, a violent energy that pierced the both of them to the bone. It was cold, ominous and dangerous. It punctuated the awkwardness with a thrill of fear that settled amongst them despite themselves.

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Kravitz growled.

He released Taako completely to rush toward the exit of the West Wing, urgent and frantic, “I-- Taako, I don’t know what that was… I’ve not felt something like _that_ here, and I’m well versed in the magic of this place… I-- listen, go back to your chambers, wait for me. I have to go and see… I’ll be back.”

Before Taako had time to argue, before he had time to properly realize what was happening, Kravitz was gone.

And Taako was alone.

It was a lot to take in, the things that had happened to him here in this castle, this temporary home, this prison.

Mechanically, Taako made his way back to his chambers, the very first room that had been made his own. It was familiar now, as familiar as an illusory room in a death castle got, anyway, and once he was in the room, he… allowed himself to _feel,_ fully and freely.

Kravitz’s words echoed in his mind-- he wanted Taako to _stay_ in his life after they escaped.

After he was freed, after he was once more empowered by a Goddess, after he defeated the evil here and was done with the turmoils he’d been through, he… wanted Taako to _stay._

The word felt foreign. Staying. The twins never stayed. They never belonged anywhere, and no one ever wanted them. The only people who stayed were each other, but now… now the reality that waited for him outside this place could change, could… also include Kravitz.

“Ugh--” Taako slapped a hand over his face and fell backwards onto the bed.

The fear of what had drawn Kravitz away in such a panic intermingled with the confusion he felt over allowing himself to _Feel things_ for someone in a way that he had never before. And that was what it was, it was _feelings,_ it was the feeling of agreement with Kravitz, the realization that once they were free, the idea of never seeing him again _hurt_ some part of him that he didn’t understand and that he’d never comprehended before.

All of these feelings were twisted up with _worry,_ which was something Taako certainly didn’t care for, especially when the last few days had been so utterly cushy and comfortable in this castle… but Kravitz had said to wait for him, and he did, but time passed and… he didn’t return.

It didn’t feel right. Taako felt an unfamiliar sense of responsibility and unease. He felt as though he needed to be there, to see if Kravitz was okay, even if… he still didn’t have magic, he couldn’t help, even if he had no power.

He had to go. With resolution now alive in him, he moved to sit up.

… but he couldn’t.

He tried to lift his head, but he couldn’t. He tried to move his hands, his arms, his legs… but he couldn’t. He was on his back on the bed, dress sprawled around him and he realized with a thrill of fear so intense it made his head spin that he couldn’t _fucking move._

And as the panic set in, as he struggled, thoughts racing here and there for a solution, for a reason... he felt it.

Pain.

White hot pain from his shoulder, the shoulder that had been wounded before, which had been so carefully tended by Kravitz, that was now nothing more than a few scars… it seared, it felt fresh, he felt fangs, the fangs of a barghest, of a great monster-- but there was nothing there.

… at first.

Steam, black steam, curled from the scars of a wound which now glowed violently beneath the sheer silk of gown. It swam through the air, it drifted to the floor… and then it began to manifest itself.

Padding softly into the room was a black cat.

Taako could see its tail in the corner of his eyes... and soon, a pair of slender, triangle ears approached the edge of his bed. It leapt gracefully onto it, closer than it had ever been before, though it seemed to bear no weight to the mattress, to the sheets.

It walked closer, and Taako could not flee. A single paw stepped onto his chest, and then another, and then another… But he couldn’t _feel it._ It sat upon him, acid green eyes bore through him.

_'Hello.'_

It echoed through his head, a voice as cold as the snowstorm outside.

And as it rang through him, as the cat now perched upon his chest stared through him, it grew heavier and it flashed a smile, a human and dangerous smile, fangs glinting in the air as pieces of its face began to peel away, flesh and muscle and fur curling away from stark, white skull… and as the creature fell apart, as the skin fell from bone, it grew closer and closer to Taako.

Suddenly, Taako could move… but he wasn’t _moving_.

The cat was gone.

Taako watched himself with panic racing through every inch of his mind as his legs swung off of the bed, as he got to his feet, as he stepped away from the bed and toward his still open wardrobe… He wasn’t in control. He wasn’t doing this. He couldn’t. He still couldn’t _move._

It was like watching himself from far away, a puppet being led by invisible strings... but he was inside himself, he could see through his eyes, but he couldn’t do anything.

His body was no longer his.

Taako looked into the mirror of his vanity and saw bright, burning green… a cat’s skull, like a mask, had morbidly twisted over his own face… and when he saw himself reflected there, he _smiled._

_‘Nice to finally see you, Taako. ...We have work to do.'_

[ ](http://nickleerie.tumblr.com/post/173237739588/tale-as-old-as-time-his-body-was-no-longer-his)

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako finally meets the true monster that has kept Kravitz held hostage for years in a castle of illusion. The power of a Goddess is released at last, and Kravitz sets Taako free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's sort of a short one! it's all downhill from here, folks~ thanks for being patient while i wrestle with my, uh, writer's block and stuff, y'know?

Losing control of his body was by and far the most unpleasant sensation that Taako had ever experienced, and he’d lived a lot of life and been in a lot of unpleasant situations. It was coupled with a visceral separation of mind and body, and a feeling of violation that permeated him utterly and completely.

He was walking through the beautifully decorated hallways of the castle that Kravitz had transformed, but he was only watching himself move. He could feel the warmth of the air, the carpet beneath his feet, but he couldn’t _respond_ to them. Try as he might, and he _was trying,_ he couldn’t fight back. He couldn’t stop. 

Whatever had him, it wasn’t letting go.

And as those thoughts crossed his mind… as his body was mechanically guided down a hallway, he heard a voice speak in his head.

The sound was both too close and too far away. It was a low, sweeping voice. It was a gentle tone that sounded almost too kind, almost too warm; it was sickly sweet like too much honey in a cup of tea.

‘ _Y_ _ou’re right, Taako, I’m not letting you go… so sorry about this, but you’ve kind of inadvertently given me an opportunity I can’t afford to not take.’_

A thrill of fear sent a chill through Taako’s body at his words, and the voice chortled in response, ‘ _Y_ _ou’re quite right to be afraid. You’ve been alive just long enough to be useful, and with each step your use is running out. At first, I was a little incensed that the mutt would keep someone alive outside my orders, but now I see it was a blessing in disguise. To think, I could have just gobbled your soul by now, like all the wayward travelers before you. What a waste that would have been...’_

What the hell was he even going on about? Where were they going? Taako fought for control again, muscles straining against magic he couldn’t ever hope to combat. It was a mingling of his own magic, which he could feel now, frustratingly just out of reach, and _necrotic magic_. The kind of magic that made his veins run cold; it was a deep, dark power that settled through his core and twisted into every sinew of his form.

‘ _Y_ _ou’ll know where we’re going soon… after all, you’re the one who showed it to me.’_

What?

 _‘Yes, yes, yes, shocking, right? What a plot twist in your little tale… I’ve been peering through your eyes for some time now, you see. My pets left quite a mark on you when you came down to visit the catacombs… Tapping into your latent magic was just enough for me to take hold, to hear, to see, to feel through you… I just needed to know exactly what I was looking for, and the Raven Queen’s lapdog_ **_finally_ ** _spilled the proverbial beans.’_

Raven Queen? Lapdog? _Kravitz._ The Barghests or whatever… that bite wound, right? Fuck. Okay, this was bad… Like, real fucking bad. This was maybe the worst possible outcome, right? Bad end.

_‘... Well, it’s the best possible outcome for me… so, sorry not really sorry, I suppose.’_

Okay, the whole reading Taako's mind thing? Getting really old, really fucking fast. Actually, the whole thing was getting really old. All of it. And it sucked. Did Taako mention that it sucked?

‘... _I just needed time, you see. I gave you an illusion, your feral cat, to distract him, to put him on edge… to keep him busy. All I had to do was wait for you little lovebirds to get closer, for him to be comfortable spilling his guts, for him to show me what I needed to see.’_

What could he do? Fuck, what did he do? What solution could he conjur that this asshat couldn’t just pluck right out of his head?

_‘That’s quite a pickle, isn’t it? The answer is really that you can’t, Taako. It’s certainly a lot harder to possess a living vessel like yourself than a bag of useless bones, but I’ll make do with the gifts I’m given.’_

Great. Fuckin’ fantastic. Excellent.

_‘Oh, quit thinking yourself in circles, it won’t do you any good. You can just talk to me, hm? I’ll admit, it’s sort of refreshing to interact with someone-- it’s been, well… some time since I’ve just had a casual chat.’_

_‘Gee, can’t fuckin’ imagine why that might be.’_

A hollow laugh rang through Taako’s mind, which edged the honey like sweetness of his captor’s voice into a more dry and unamused tone.

_‘Ah, I see, perhaps, then, conversation is a little out of the question. I just thought it’d be sort of a nice sentiment, you know? You’ve been trapped here without your sister and in only sub-par company, and, well, this is the last conversation you’re ever going to have… thought you might want to take advantage of that, but, well, old Felix has been wrong about a lot of things in this life, I guess.’_

Felix? Old Felix? Who the Fuck was Old Felix? No, don’t focus on that-- Taako didn’t give a damn who he was, all he knew was that whatever was going to happen, he had to stop.

He willed himself to pay attention to his surroundings once more, to the passageways winding by, to the echoed sound of his own footsteps, to the queer, detached feeling of being able to see and feel but not act, but not fight back.

And he was trying to fight back, with every ounce of himself. He struggled and fought each movement, but it was all in vain. It was a fruitless struggle that left Taako’s very soul exhausted as they approached their destination, the place that Taako already knew and feared that they were headed for:

_The West Wing._

Taako could see his reflection in the polished oak door, the morbid feline skull twisted over his features, the wild, bright green eyes. He watched his own hand push the heavy door open, and when his eyes came to rest on the glowing, crystalline orb in the center of the room, the rose which glistened delicately before them in dim light, he felt himself chuckle-- his own voice, but a graveled, dark, self-satisfied sort of laugh that left his blood running cold.

“It’s… about time.”

No. No no no. Hell no, fuck no.

“... ahem,” he felt himself clear his throat, “fuck… _yes,_ actually.”

He strode into the room with purpose, and with each step, his pace quickened. Soon, he was standing directly before the crystalline shell which held the power of a Goddess.

“This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for, Taako, for years… _years!_ I appreciate the loaner body-- it seems that the undead cannot open this barrier, only the living... but you… you opened it, didn’t you? That day, before you came to visit my trapped energy in the catacombs. Foolish of him to keep you alive, though I doubt even he knew you would be the one to free this energy.”

Taako’s hand lifted. He felt the energy coming off of the orb in waves, and when his fingers slid across the smooth, cold surface of the crystal, as before, dissolved. The red eyes of the twin headed raven trapped within bore into Taako, though there was nothing he could do to stop this.

Fuck, was there really _nothing_ he could fucking do?

“See, this… this is what’s kept us trapped here… this is the power that I’ve sought for decades-- the power to equal that of the Raven Queen, the power to dethrone a Goddess… the power to take the Astral Plane and become a new God, and to reign, well, _forever_ , really…” An edge of contempt bled into silken, pleasant tones as he continued, “but she didn’t even fight me on fair terms, no… she sent her _watchdog_ after me, she sent her pet to bite at my heels… and then, when I was about to win, when I would have stomped the mutt into the ground… she… trapped us both, took the power I sought, and… hid it here, trapping us, leaving us at an _impasse._ ”

As interesting as this fuckin’ _exposition_ was, which it _wasn’t_ , Taako was entirely more concerned with coming up with the mental or magical gumption to kick this old, crusty asshole out of his body, to _free_ himself, _to warn Kravitz--_

“Yes, I know, I know... you have no respect for proper fear… You’re a fool. You can’t best me, and you won’t get his attention soon enough to save yourself, or to save him… So, Taako, what’s say you hand me what I’ve been seeking and I finally end this little stalemate?”

In slow motion, Taako watched his hand extend toward the rose, toward its core, toward the only thing that could undo this prison, and also the only thing that could sufficiently destroy, like, basically everything, near as Taako could figure.

“Destroy? Oh, no... I want so _much more than that_.”

The once honeyed tones had twisted into a voice that spat maliciously as Taako’s fingers clutched the glowing red orb. At first, it was just warm, a strangely soothing heat in his palm, but then it intensified. The glistening, purple petals of the rose around it began to flutter in a surge of energy, and with this energy they spiraled away from the flower and dissipated in a storm throughout the room.

The Raven that hovered in the air screeched, becoming mobile for the first time, and with great wings spread, it flew toward the ceiling in a spiral and vanished amidst the storm of petals with a loud pop.

Taako watched his fingers struggle to hold onto the now violently pulsing orb. He felt the energy course through him. He heard laughter in his mind so loud that it dulled out the sounds of everything around him, everything except--

“ _Taako_!?”

Kravitz’s voice punctured the noise, and Taako’s gaze left the power in his hand and focused upon him.

And when Kravitz saw Taako, he knew it was lost. The acid green gaze that peered from Taako’s face was the same of King Felix, the Lich King he had nearly lost his battle to many, many years ago.

“Too little, too late, Watchdog,” came Taako’s voice, but it drawled with poisonous honey as he slammed the red orb into his mouth, into the gaping maw of the cat’s skull still twisted onto Taako’s face.

When he did, the energy in the room exploded outward.

“Taako-- no, _Taako!_ ” Kravitz desperately swept forward, fighting through the surge, though he knew the risks, scythe materialized in his hands-- but he had no chance to get close, the energy of the aspect pushed him back, whipping debris off of the floor and into a cyclone that thrashed all around Taako, around… His Taako.

_Not Taako._

Kravitz roared. And as he did, as he struggled against the tumultuous winds that threatened to tear the room around them apart, the glow in his chest resonated, the connection he shared with the Raven Queen’s aspect, a desperate last attempt to combat assimilation into Felix’s form, into the form of the Lich King--

As the power within him surged outward, energy erupted suddenly from Taako, and like a child’s ragdoll, he was thrown bodily from where he stood.

Kravitz snatched him from the air, fretting, skeletal hands caressing his face, which was free of the feline skull. Taako’s eyes blearily opened, and he groaned, twisting his head this way and that before meeting Kravitz’s gaze.

“‘Sup, bone man, good catch--”

“Taako--”

Laughter interrupted him. Standing where Taako had been moments before was now instead a man; he was a pale, blonde, elderly man with a benign face and soft eyes… on his head rest a crown of thorns, and on his lips danced a smile which twisted from the kind expression of a human king to a toothy, dangerous, fanged grin of a monster.

The energy in the room grew to a peak, violent winds whipping at Taako and Kravitz as Felix, once a King of Men, twisted and transformed before their eyes, face peeling away to reveal stark white bone and teeth. Great, massive paws erupted from tired, old hands. The lich king transcended, the power of a Goddess fueling his change into a beast that filled the room, that gnashed teeth and tore claws through the floor.

A beast stood above them, resembling a panther formed of necrotic energy, so large it could crush them with one swing of a paw. It snarled down upon them with eyes that burned with acid energy, a mouth that dripped dark matter from a skull face, fangs bore and heaving, crowned with a band of thorns.

And as the beast rounded upon them, as Taako and Kravitz came face to face with a true monster, the very fabric of the world around them began to crumble. Bits of stone fell from the wall and disappeared. Far away, a deafening roar sounded from the catacombs below as wicked energy began to pour from every surface, destroying the illusory castle bit by bit, surrounding them, cutting off escape.

Kravitz knew that there was little hope, and even less time.

“You’ve got to go, Taako,” he whispered in a rushed voice.

“Hey, woah woah, _wait_ \--”

“No, you’ve got to go. You’ve got to get far away from here-- _I’m sorry_ , I-- I’m going to tap into his energy one last time… it’s how I freed your sister, and… it’s how I should have freed you, as well. It’s dangerous, but I have no choice now, you’ve got to go, you’ve got to live, and you’ve got to get as far away from here as you can--”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere, brocephus-- You- I- _look_ , I’m not one for, uh, situations like this,” a vague and too casual motion toward the chaos of the room, “but we sorta signed into this together and--”

“No, you-- You’ve got to go--” as Kravitz spoke, his scythe materialized back into his hands, and as he spoke, he pulled his cloak closer to shield Taako from the chaos surrounding them, from the beast which grew with power as necrotic energy tore through the castle around them.

Kravitz knew there was precious little time-- and it hurt, God, it hurt to think about it, to think not only of losing himself, of losing this world, but… of losing _Taako_ , a gift he’d only just gotten to appreciate. Something he never knew he would think or feel was the absolute desperation to keep someone safe, to keep someone alive, to… feel remorse at the realization he would never see him again.

He swung his scythe, he had no choice, and a portal tore open behind them-- and though Taako protested, though Taako moved to get away, Kravitz gave him no other option.

Kravitz threw Taako into the surge--

“Thank you for everything, Taako. Thank you for reminding me… that I can _love_ , that I can feel humanity-- thank you for setting me free.”

As Taako fell away from Kravitz, from the destruction of the room, he saw the red, warm glow of Kravitz’s gaze flicker away.

There was a deafening roar, and then silence.

Taako stood, rooted to the ground, staring at the forest that now surrounded him… the _real_ forest. Frost nipped at his nose and snowflakes fell from the sky above, which was dusted in sunset colors.

There was no more chaos, there was no deafening roar of danger… there was only _silence._

_He was free._

…

The sudden silence that surrounded him was even _more_ suddenly shattered by the sound of heavy footfalls tearing through the forest nearby.

When he lifted his head to see who approached, who was running toward him, a cloaked figure skid to a stop on the path at the crest of a small hill nearby— her eyes were wide, slender ears perked, and her expression twisted into shock, disbelief, and then _exuberance._

_“Taako—“_

Lup was running down the hill toward her brother.

She slammed into him, more roughly than perhaps she meant to, and threw her arms around him. She said nothing at first, face buried into the crook of her brother’s neck, hands desperately clutching at his back—

He was real. He was so fucking real. He was alive and he was safe and he was  _real._

 _“Taako,_ holy shit, Taako… you escaped, I can’t fucking believe you escaped—“

Taako drew back, and he and his twin sister made eye contact—

“I have to go back.”

Lup’s expression went from delighted, from overwhelmed with joy… to confused. Absolutely and completely stumped, not just by what he said, which was batshit enough, but the uncaracteristically serious way in which he said it.

Huffing, Barry crested the hill after Lup, finally. He took a moment to plant both hands on his knees and wheeze-- he wasn’t absolutely the most out of shape, but the way she’d darted off like a bat out of hell, he couldn’t help but worry and chase after as quick as he could.

“Hey-- hey-- uh, hey, you must be-- _huff--_ Taako… You-- uh, wow are you naked, my man. As a jay bird. _Why_ is he naked?”

Lup didn’t ask questions, tugging her own cloak off her shoulders to throw it around Taako.

“I was coming to get you out,” Lup began, “me and-- oh, this is Barold--”

“-- _Barry Bluejeans_ \--”

“-- by the way, _um_ \-- he sorta swooped in to give me and you a hand, we were… we’re all decked out in holy symbols and warding magic… but, you’re _free,_ Taako… why the _hell_ would you want to go back?”

“I-- look, I know that’s about the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard me say--”

“It’s definitely a _contender.”_

“But-- I--” Taako started to respond, but he was cut off by a harsh gust of wind that tore through the woods around them… and as it rustled the trees, as snowflakes rushed around them, the ground began to rumble.

And the three of them _felt it._ Dark energy, necrotic power pulsed through the pristine winter air and sent much more than a shiver of cold through the three of them.

“... because if I don’t, all _hell_ is going to fuckin’ break loose.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako, Lup and Barry return to the necromantic keep that Taako only just escaped. Here, they face not only Kravitz, but the Lich King, Felix, himself. Together, they must hold off the possessed form of Kravitz and find a way to set him free, but time is running out, and the world around them is being consumed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, so, uh... this has taken a while to write. longer than i ever intended for it to take. i've been really down on myself lately and that sort of translated into being unable to feel good about anything i was doing, writing being the biggest hurdle of them all. either way, i'm so glad to be finally done with this chapter and i really hope you guys enjoy it! sorry about the delay, again! ps. thank u to my husband, nickleerie on tumblr, for doing the amazing piece of art in this chapter. seriously, it's so beautiful. ;_ ;

A crack of lightning set the twilit forest around them into harsh relief. The trees around them rocked and swayed with a bitter wind so cold that it threatened to chill them to the bones; it was obvious that this was no natural wind, and this was no natural storm. Snowflakes began to pepper the air from a darkening sky, thunder rumbling ominously amongst the drifting, soft white flakes falling silently from the sky.

Lup remained staring into her brother’s eyes for what felt like an eternity, searching for some answer or explanation (or common sense, please) that would explain exactly why he wanted to _go back_ to the very hellscape the two of them had only barely escaped.

A loud crash of thunder roused her. The rumble of the ground beneath her feet continued long after the thunder faded.

“Okay--” She relinquished her hold on Taako’s shoulders and tugged a set of clothes for her woefully nude brother out of her bag and threw them at him, “Okay. Okay. So… let me, let me just put this together here, like, let me try to make some sense of it--”

“It’s not gonna make sense, Lulu,” Taako gratefully drug the clothes on as they spoke and smoothed them out, “but we gotta go back.”

Barry, who had been watching the two of them wordlessly for a minute, now began prowling around the area, examining, feeling the energy of the air.

“Listen,” he began, “I know you guys got this big dilemma to work out, but, I uh… I think it’s about to get real bad around here.”

Lup rounded on Barry, stared shrewdly at his turned back, and then rounded back onto Taako, “You never struck me as the ‘save the world’ sorta person. Ever.”

“No no, you’re right. This world’s never done much for us, I get that, crystal clear,” even as Taako spoke, he began to join Barry in searching the area, holding his cloak close to protect him from the harsh wind, “still gotta go back though.”

Her eyes still narrowed, she continued to stare daggers through Taako, though he remained impassive despite her harsh expression.

Taako was way too serious right now for Lup’s taste. They had faced perils together their entire life, and they had come out on top every time, but this was the first time that Taako wanted to waltz right back into a peril that they had already bested. Why? Why was Taako so adamant about going back into danger? What happened to her brother to make him so keen on putting their lives on the line willingly?

Eventually, Lup relaxed, and she sighed, and she conceded.

“Alright then. You want to go back, Taako, then let’s go back. I don’t really get it, but I’m itching to put some of these practical necromancy lessons into practice anyways,” she nodded toward Barry, who froze in his investigations and glanced back sheepishly.

“Eugh,” Taako stuck his tongue out, “necromancy, really?”

“Oh yeah, but like, the _important_ stuff. Like, do liches have asses that I can kick? The answer’s still up in the air on that one.” Lup swirled a finger in the air, “so, like, more importantly… You found a way to bust into the joint when I was trapped, so, like, can you get us back in?”

“Uh, about that,” Taako shrugged, “I, uh… I just… sort of _did_ that. Just happened. I’m sure it has something to do with, you know, my wildly superior arcane senses and all, but… I’m not sure I can just reproduce perfection like that.”

Barry stared at them bewilderedly, only to see Lup sagely nod at Taako’s proclamation as if it made any freakin’ sense _at all._  

“Wait wait wait,” he began, approaching the two of them in disbelief, “what do you mean you… ‘just did it?’ Taako, this place, it’s sort of, well… it’s kind of like the White Whale to people who study necromantic magic, like me? I can’t believe you just… wandered right in?”

Taako gave Barry a searching glance, and then back to Lup, and then to Barry again, “Y’know, sis, not really sure I’d pin you the type to net a nerd like this.”

Taako paused, seeming introspective, “No judgement, woof, let me say, far be it for _me_ to judge your personal taste in men, but… Y’know, nevermind, actually. Let me save myself some trouble for later and just pull this train of thought back to station.”

“I- um, I-- we-- we aren’t...” Barry was stunned out of his line of thought, tinted several shades of red, but his fumbling was interrupted by Lup throwing an arm around his shoulders.

“Jealousy don’t look good on you,” she crooned, an edge of smugness to her voice, which Barry couldn’t discern whether was real or playful, “just because I found a whole ass snack doesn’t mean you can’t find you a meal.”

“Oh God--” Barry’s voice cracked.

“Mm,” Taako didn’t seem keen on arguing the point, and instead grew fascinated with his nails, “well, mm, scintillating as that is, I-- uh-”

The ground rumbled again, surprising them, a reminder of the gravity of the situation. Barry, Lup and Taako stared out into the storm as it grew steadily stronger, more violent, the dark sky growing ever darker still, and that rumbling did not stop, it set into a constant thrum beneath their feet.

“Bad news” Barry mumbled, and as Lup released him he prowled further down the path, “um… Guys, I think… I don’t think we’re going to have a problem getting in there very soon.”

Taako squinted, sidling up beside his new human companion and assessing the scene.

With each flash of lightning, with each heavy snowflake that pounded into the ground around them, the very atmosphere of the forest around them was changing. The cool winter air deteriorated into bleakness, the storm whipping at their clothes, tearing at the limbs of trees, sending branches scattering into the sky around them. And as the storm grew, bits and pieces of reality fell apart around them.

Just as before, when Taako came to find his sister, the horizon doubled, a hazy, mirror image placed on top of the real, tangible surroundings. But the mirror image grew stronger and stronger, until it began to overtake the world around them. Reality peeled away in chunks, and they could feel the necrotic energy burning into the winds now, a cold and desolate feeling of death and despair that permeated the air around them.

Barry turned to face the twins, “You weren’t wrong… shit is going south. Something is bringing this demi-plane into the material plane.”

“Grrrreat,” Lup groaned, slapping a hand on Taako’s back, “so I know we don’t have a lot of time, but we need to know what we’re walking into, since it seems like it’s sort of walking into, um… us now, you know?”

As Lup spoke, Barry began to dig through his bag and pushed a smooth black stone into Taako’s hands, “keep this on you, okay? It’s a ward.”

Taako ran his thumb over the surface as Barry elaborated.

“Lup told me about the trap you both fell into here… it’s completely illusory, but I’m sure it’s meant to confuse travelers and weaken them so they’re easier prey. That stone should keep the energy away and make it easier to get where we’re going without having the mickey taken out of us.”

As Barry spoke, Taako noticed the biting winds becoming less harsh. The snowstorm continued to rage around them, but the necrotic energy that fueled it seemed much further away.

“Noiice,” Taako pocketed the stone, “well, since ol’ Barold here has come in clutch, let’s get this show on the road, shall we~?”

And without any further deliberation, without any regard to Lup’s questioning from before, Taako pressed forward into the raging snowstorm, into the crumbling reality around them.

Barry trailed along behind him, scratching his cheek, “ _Ol’ Barold..?”_

Lup threw her hands in the air, “Um, _excuse the fuck out of me,_ ” she stomped after him, “an _explanation_ please! What are we just _galavanting into!?”_

“Later, later, I got shit to do right now--”

“Believe it or not, Taako, I’m being fuckin’ serious right now! We can’t just walk in blindly! You already convinced me to come in here with you, it’s the least you can do, like, we’re risking our lives! And you won’t tell us what’s happening? What sense does that make!?” Lup was wildly gesturing as she spoke, desperate to get _anything_ from Taako at this point.

“Listen, it’s just-- it’s a _lot--_ um, I’m still sort of unpacking it myself, let me… let me just say, it’s… it’s _so much._ Just trust me, we can handle this, I know what we need to do, I think, okay? Just follow my lead.”

Lup grumbled. She pouted. She resisted the temptation to snatch Taako by the back of the shirt and shake the information out of him-- that would do no good, Taako was just as stubborn as she was. If he didn’t feel like spilling the beans just yet, then he wouldn’t, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it, frustrating as it was.

Taako was more determined right now than she had _ever_ seen him.  Here they were, marching through a crumbling demi-plane full of dangerous, volatile energy back toward a threat that had subdued and trapped the both of them previously. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. There was something that Taako didn’t want to talk about, and she’d wrestle it out of him eventually, she _hoped._

Meanwhile, at the front of the party, Taako was tight lipped and grumbling to himself. Lup would ab-so-lutely not let him live this down. They were going back to this hellhole because he caught feelings for the sack of bones that split her like a fuckin’ fish? Yeah, that’d go over great. Super good. Excellent. Yeah, stalling that out for as long as he could get away with sounded guh-reat.

Sure, saving the world from King Nasty or whatever was important, he guessed, since he did kind of live in it, but that was the least of his priorities honestly.

Barry had caught up to the two of them, now striding next to the petulant and thoughtful looking Lup.

“He’s dodging,” Barry offered quietly.

“I know that.”

“... does he do that often?”

Lup’s frown tightened, gaze piercing Taako’s back, “All the time.”

“Then I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Barry shrugged nonchalantly, “he’s got somethin’ on his mind, dunno what it is, but if he’s got a plan, then, like, I guess we should go with it?”

“You’re way too casually optimistic for me, Barry,” but even as she spoke, she relaxed a bit, “but… the odds are more on our side then they were before, that’s for sure. We’re not being washed by this storm. We have the element of surprise on our side.”

Barry cleared his throat and nudged Lup’s elbow with his own, “where’s that Lup that was yelling about kickin’ lich ass just a little while ago, huh?”

Lup took a deep breath, steeled herself, and nodded, “oh, she’s still right fuckin’ here.”

“ _There we go_. Atta girl.”

She smiled at him, and that smile caused him to divert his attention to a particularly interesting thread on his coat sleeve.

“Eugh,” Taako stuck his tongue out at their conversation, which he could hear, like, perfectly, because they were literally right behind him, “gross. I’m not that gross. Right? Holy shit I hope, I hope I’m not that gross.”

“What was that~?” Lup’s voice crooned from behind, and he waved his hand dismissively.

“I said you’re gross.”

“Takes one to know one, asshole.”

“God I hope you’re not right… about that, like, at all. Even a little bit.”

The three continued their trek through a vaguely familiar and daunting stretch of forest, only this time unencumbered by the biting winds of a necrotic trap thanks to Barry’s wards. The trip took hardly any time, but as they walked, the carnage and danger of the situation became steadily more and more apparent.

Bits of reality continued to fall away around them, some leaving violent patches of green energy hovering in the air like the remains of a broken pane of glass. In some places, the world opened up into the cheery, dusk hued sky of the material plane that they had left behind. Either way, the storm that whipped through forest around them grew steadily worse and worse with each passing step.

Eventually, they crested the same hill the twins had both crested so many days earlier, and below them sat a castle now in utter destruction. Swirls of black and green energy erupted from the towers as great chunks of stone fell away, crumbling into nothing before they even hit the ground. The rumbling they had been hearing the entire time had climaxed in pitch and was a steady roar as the darkness threatened to tear not only the castle, but reality itself apart.

“Jesus,” Barry muttered as he trekked up after Taako and Lup, “what a fuckin’ wreck.”

“Don’t get cold feet now, isn’t this what you’ve been looking forward to?” Lup slapped her hand on his back and smiled in a much too jovial way for the scene before them.

“Well, yeah, of course it is,” Barry glanced around them, “This whole thing is honestly incredible. This demi-plane wasn’t created in this image, in fact, I’m pretty sure the Raven Queen had to have made this, but for _so much_ necrotic energy to have built up over time, so many souls had to have been taken to transform it into _this._ It’s buckwild.”

“Yeah, it ain’t no Disney resort, that’s for fuckin’ sure,” Taako scoffed and began down the crumbling stairs toward the hellscape before them.

“Hey! Wait!” Lup bound after him, hand catching on the back of Barry’s shirt to drag him along too, “don’t just go barging in there!”

“See, thing about that is, I gotta? I’ll explain everything, but-- For once, Taako’s actually _not_ good out here, see, and that’s sort of whack, sort of goes against my whole tagline and, like, established character, but I guess what’s _not_ topsy turvy about all this, huh?”

Lup, in full dramatics, placed a hand on her chest and bowed her head, “... and today we mourn the loss of Taako’s established brand.”

“We better hope we don’t have to just, fuckin’, mourn all of us after all this…” Barry tugged his shirt collar, stumbling along behind Lup as she drug him down the hill after her brother.

“Have a little faith, it looks like shit, but… we got this, yeah?” Lup retorted, and after winking over her shoulder she released the grip on the back of his shirt and slowed to the bottom of the hill, “Faith’s all we’ve got in this world.”

She followed Taako as he pressed forward across the desecrated garden and castle yard toward the steadily growing roar, the crumbling chaos of the castle that had once served as both of their prisons.

Barry watched, bewildered, as Lup so carelessly trailed behind her brother. That they could both joke and tease at a time like this was astounding, but… also sort of heartening.

Lup acted exasperated with Taako, but was still so willing to follow him into what could only be described as, like, the bowels of hell because he wanted to, with no other explanation. He watched her back fondly as she caught up with Taako and then, with a start, realized that Taako was staring back at him.

He stumbled, almost falling the rest of the way down the hill before he caught himself, “Erm--”

Taako shrewdly pointed at his own eyes and then back at Barry before turning away and continuing his march toward the castle.

“Yeesh--” Barry cautiously caught up with them, and Lup patted his shoulder as he took up stride next to them.

“Alright,” Taako began as they approached the castle doors, “just, a heads up, a little pre-show warning here-- shit’s buckwild in there. I think I have a good idea where I need to go, but it’s gonna be tough, it’s gonna be--”

Before he could finish speaking, the castle door creaked on its own, and with a long groan of too old metal on stone, it opened.

“-- it’s gonna be, well... bad.”

Hovering in the grand entryway right before them, eyes black, hollowed out, scythe dangerously held in skeletal, clawed hands was Kravitz.

Lup immediately charged forward into the room, flames licking her hands, “Ohhh man, do I have a fuckin’ _bone_ to pick with you, bone man--”

Taako darted to the side, away from the oncoming action, brows inclined at the sight of Kravitz, who hung like a puppet in the air, jaw rattling in rage at the sight of them. It was rough, rougher than he thought it would feel to see Kravitz so completely lost to himself, to see everything falling apart around him, everything they had sort of worked so hard for, right?

“Barold, you come with me!” He called back to the human who remained standing in the doorway of the castle in awe, staring around like a fuckin’ tourist.

“Oh-- uh-- okay, sure, I guess-- Coming!” Barry slipped past the scene unfolding with a wide eyed wonder.

Lup had charged forward and Kravitz’s shell had met her in midair-- a swing of his scythe was expected and dodged as Lup flipped backward and sent a volley of firebolt at his clattering form, which took a hit and swooped backward away from her.

“You guys go ahead!” She called, parrying to the side away from another scythe swing that tore into the ground where she had been standing, “I’ll take care of this asshole!”

“Okay, um, hey, Lulu can you take care of it but kinda, uhhhhhh... _nonlethally_?” Taako was already running across the grand hallway, “Like, can you just sorta keep him here for a few minutes? And maybe not absolutely destroy him?”

“What!?” Lup parried another blow, a flaming fist connecting with the underside of Kravitz’s jaw before she pushed off of his sternum and flipped away, “Are you fucking _kidding_ me right now!?”

“Nope! Not in the slightest! Just keep him busy! No killing! Minimal destruction!” And Taako rounded the corner, then stuck his head back out and motioned violently for Barry, who was still taking his time in investigating the entire scene, and Kravitz, as closely as he could, “Come ON Barold, time is-a tickin’!”

“You-- That-- That guy, that’s definitely not the lich king! I can _feel_ it!” Barry huffed as he caught up with Taako.

“Well, no shit,” Taako waved a hand and kept moving, dodging pieces of castle that crumbled from the walls as they headed down a rapidly cooling corridor and toward a stone staircase.

“So who _is he?_ Where are we going, exactly? And are you _sure_ Lup’s good out there on her own--”

“She’s fine. She has her magic this time. He isn’t going to be able to wear her down like before, for sure. And we-- we’re headed down to the catacombs, homie, where the real deep, nasty shit is.” Taako pushed the stone door open and headed down narrow, now wobbly, stone steps.

“The real nasty shit as in..?” Barry hesitated, but then followed Taako’s sure footing with as much mustered confidence as he could.

“The epicenter of all this,” he vaguely waved a hand, “ _unpleasantness._ ”

“So, what, the epicenter? Uh... the Lich King’s phylactery, most likely?”

“Sure, _yeah,_ those are words.”

“Listen,” Barry huffed, “I sorta know a lot about the legend of this place, I-- I know you’re kind of on a mission right now, and I want to help, but I’m also trying to _study_ while I work--”

“No time for studying, homework is for losers, this is brass tacks and action right now, my man. Gonna need you to be on this one,” Taako stumbled on the last step and righted himself on the wall, “I’m also gonna need Mr. Necromancy here to explain what we gotta do to stop all this from going _totally_ down the crapshoot.”

“Well, _Taako,_ if I’m gonna help you I kind of need to know what the _fuck_ is going on here, like, the honest truth.” Barry stood his ground now, in the depths of the dungeons, arms folded over his chest as he stared Taako down, who sighed a bit dramatically and finally seemed to admit defeat.

“Okay,” Taako began down the catacombs, “ _okay,_ so, obviously you were right, bone-man up there’s not the lich king, or whatever. He works for the Raven Queen, you know her, right? He got trapped here _with_ King Nasty  and they’ve sorta been doing this tug of war bullshit for a few years. Anyway, right now, the lich sort of has the aspect of a Goddess under his contr--”

“He _what?_ ” Barry stared at Taako, aghast, “this lich has the power of the Raven Queen’s aspect? And we’re just strolling right the fuck in here? Are you _crazy?_ This guy is legend, right? He’s _crazy powerful_ on his own, much less with the power of the literal _Goddess of DEATH._ ”

“Yeah, were you even listening, I _said_ it was going to be whack. Like, before we even came in here I said that. Keep up.” Taako began moving down the catacombs again as if unphased by anything Barry had to say.

“Okay, yeah, okay, you did say that, _I guess_ , but-- Listen, I’m sure you and your sister can take care of yourselves and, believe it or not, I’m pretty capable too, but-- this?” He opened his hands around them, at the bones littering the ground, at the swirls of darkness that tore asunder the very fabric of reality around them, “This is a bit much, man! We might just be walkin’ right into our deaths here!”

“I thought you were an _optimist,”_ Taako deadpanned, “but, like, you’re with me right now in the thinking that what we need to do is wreck whatever’s down here, right? We disturb the flow of energy and destroy the phylacty--”

“--phylactery--”

“-- yeah that thing, and we’re golden. That’s what’s up, right? Easy.”

“Easy? Do you _see_ what’s happening here? Dude, I don’t mean to bring you down on this mission of conquest or whatever but, like, I’m not really the _hero_ type and, so I hear, neither are you!”

Taako rounded on him then, lips pressed tightly together, “Yeah, you know, I’m not, but I’ve got something I want to save, so-- like, maybe I’ll wear the hero cape for a little while, just try it out-- I don’t really give a shit about the world or whatever, like, as a whole, not been great… but I’ve got something I want to save, so I’m gonna do what I can to do that. You can bounce if you want, boyo, far be it for me to stop you. Go do your scholarly learning bullshit, or whatever nerd stuff you do, and _try not to die_.”

“Woah-- I--”

But Taako pressed on without him. He didn’t look back.

“ _Ugh… Taako,_ ” Barry hesitantly followed him, “look, I came here because I wanted to help your sister save you. And, yeah, ulterior motive, because I really wanted to see this place myself, learn about this it… but you had already kind of saved yourself, so… I’m just here, okay? Let me-- I’ll help, I’ll help you, but I’m gonna be a little selfish too in that I don’t want to just fucking _die_ here.”

“Then don’t die.” Taako remarked in a tone that sort of said that much should be obvious.

Barry furrowed his brows at Taako’s back, “I don’t plan on it.”

“There you go. That’s the spirit.”

To change the tone of conversation, Taako pulled the ward stone out of his pocket and waved it.

“So, will this thing protect against undead creatures too, or just the energy?”

Reluctantly, Barry answered, “It should keep them at bay, though if they’re too powerful, they’ll straight up just ignore it. It’s more for protecting your magic and keeping the energy draining aspect of this keep away from you.”

He paused, “... um, why do you ask… are there creatures we need to--”

Taako stopped walking as the sound of snarling reached both of their ears. They had finally reached the end of the line, the point at which the castle ceased in being an illusion, and became reality once more. It was where he had fallen to King Felix’s little pets days beforehand, and where they remained even now.

“Barghests--” Barry mumbled, drawing from his side a short sword, “okay, it makes sense. They’re undead creatures typically risen and tethered to a powerful master.”

“Yeah, real bad pups. They got them a chunk last time I was here, but, not this time.”

“So what’s your plan on getting through them?”

“Easy,” Taako lifted his hands, wreathed with shimmering magic, “blast ‘em.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, they’re sort of all chained up, now, right? If I can take some shots at them from out here, we should be able to amble right on by with no rea--”

The sound of chains snapping stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Good, great,” Barry drew back and prepared himself, “you always just announce what you’re gonna do where thousands of undead ears can probably hear?”

“I mean, I gotta tell _someone,”_ Taako huffed.

Barry barely dodged out of the way as two rotting, half skeletal wolves bound from their corridor toward them. He thrust his short sword at one, catching it between the ribs. The beast yelped and skid back.

A third darted past Barry and the two skirmishing barghests and leapt at Taako, but Taako spun out of the way and shot a magic missile directly at the back of its head, sending it sprawling across the floor.

“So, Barold,” Taako spoke casually enough as he volleyed shots at the barghest he dealt with, which kept skirting to the side of his attacks, inching closer, “I gotta ask, just, from a brotherly point of view here, about you and my sister.”

Barry, who was using one arm to shove a barghest away while the other waved his sword threateningly at the one prowling around him, nearly stumbled backwards at his question, “Taako what the _fuck?_ ”

“No no, seriously,” Taako whipped one arm back and hit the beast Barry was pushing away with a magic missile, sending it yelping to the side, “like, I see these gross shmoopy woopy looks you guys keep giving each other, how could I miss them, so… like how far are we talking here?”

“There’s no ‘how far’ anything! There’s nothing!” Barry’s face and ears were red as he stabbed a barghest between the eyes a little bit too hard, “Is now really the time for this!?”

“Sure, it’s like a brotherly bonding experience? Just two dudes… in a dungeon… fighting for our lives against some dead dogs. So, like, have you smooched yet, or?” Taako turned to face him, ducking to dodge one of the undead beasts as it attempted to pounce at him from the side.

“F-fuck! No! Of course not! I-- I’m trying to, like, fight shit-- can you--” Barry jerked his sword to the side, the beast that had been caught on his blade vanishing in a poof of black smoke.

“But you think she’s a total babe though, right?”

“Jesus Christ Taako!”

Taako twirled out of the way of his own barghest, and as he did, used his heel to kick up the femur bone of an unfortunate traveller. He caught it, wrinkled his nose, and then waved it around, “Hereeeee, spooky pup, see the bone? See the bone?”

The barghest snarled, but the whites of its eyes darted from Taako’s face to the bone in his hand.

“Okay, fido, okay, be a good boy, go get it!” And he tossed it-- and, as luck would have it, the beast’s head turned in time with the throw.

And as soon as it did, it took a full blast attack to the side of the head. With a whimper and a stumble, the beast hit the ground and vanished.

“Now, answer the question, Barold--” Taako whirled to face Barry, who stumbled back at his sudden, intense stare.

“I-- uh-- I--”

“ _Answer the question._ ”

“I mean-- y-yes-- Yes? Yes. I-- she is, of course she-- uh, of course she-- is--”

In a split second, Taako had closed the distance between the two of them. He clutched the front of Barry’s shirt and leaned into his face.

“Let me tell you something, Barry J Bluejeans-- I have my eyes on you. You’re right, my sister is a babe, and a treasure, and I am telling you right now, at this very second, to _watch yourself--”_

Barry felt a bead of sweat drip down his temple at the intensity, and then he jerked his arm up-- Taako moved to dodge away, and as he did, Barry stabbed the last remaining barghest, which had lunged at Taako’s back, directly in the mouth. It fumbled before slumping down and vanishing.

“I think _you_ need to watch _yourself,_ Taako.” Barry flicked his sword to the side before sheathing it.

“Touche, I’ll give you that one,” Taako wiped his hands on his trousers, “eugh. Okay, we’ll follow that conversation later--”

“--I’d so rather not--”

“-- let’s get to it, huh?”

Before Taako could set foot into the passageway, a new, deafening roar pierced the air around them. Taako stumbled back, and Barry stood beside him to brace him as energy more cold, more dangerous than before tore through the passageway within which the barghests had been tethered.

Barry and Taako exchanged an uncertain glance.

Violent green eyes illuminated the darkness before them, and with it followed a sense of dread that needed no explanation.

_“I do not think so.”_ A voice echoed the air around them; a sinister voice, sickly sweet, tinged with darkness, dripping with honey.

Taako grabbed Barry’s shirt sleeve as chaotic energy exploded outward from the passageway, a great, hulking form visible in flashes of acid green light.

“On second thought, you know what, fuck this, let’s go check on Lup-- uh, yeah, I think we need to get out of here--”

“What the _fuck_ —? Is that the Lich--”

“Yep! Yep! Sure is!” Taako was already heading out as fast as his legs could feasibly take him, abandoning his grip on Barry because, fuck that, if he couldn’t keep up then he couldn’t keep up.

“Holy shit, we’re-- this-- we’re in trouble. The fuckin’ energy coming off of that guy is INSANE, I have never felt anything like that before!”

“Less talky, more movey!” Taako was bounding the stairs in threes as the rumbling from beneath them grew so loud that he had to yell for Barry, who stumbled along behind him, to hear him.

Taako’s plans had sort of fallen through, but they had been the only plans he had. Honestly, he didn’t think them through much, and to be perfectly plain, he had assumed that with his sister and her new nerdy tagalong that they would be fine and everything would be good, right?

Nope. That was a big fat nope. He should have known better, but… rushing headlong into things wasn’t his normal style. He was desperate, not to save the world really, but to save _Kravitz._ And as he admitted that to himself mentally, he knew he was doing the wrong thing.

There was no way that he could have destroyed the phylactery of an ancient, powerful lich by himself, even with Barry J Bluejeans’ help. And he should have figured King Nasty, Felix himself, wouldn’t have stayed in the west wing where he left him. Why would he?

He had to save Kravitz. That was what they needed to do, first and foremost. This could be a dual purpose sort of victory, right? Kravitz would know how to handle this, maybe? Or, at least, he fuckin’ hoped he would.

When Barry and Taako burst back into the main entryway, they realized that Lup and her opponent were nowhere to be seen, but the _sounds_ of their skirmish echoed through the vacant, crumbling room.

The evidence of their fight surrounded them, seared patches of floor, destroyed furnishings, pieces of stone cleaved in two by a blade much too sharp to be wielded by any mortal. The trail of wreckage led Barry and Taako down a passageway and into a grand ballroom.

The ballroom itself would have been beautiful, were it not tarnished by the nightmare that peeled reality apart and caused the opulent room to be obscured by necrotic energy that burned through the facade of twinkling lights and ornate statues with black and green swirls of energy. Like a patchwork cloth, bits of the reality of the destroyed castle peeked through the beautiful decor that Kravitz’s magic had woven previously.

And in that ballroom, Kravitz’s stolen form and Lup danced.

Taako and Barry burst through the doors, and Lup didn’t chance looking over at them. She couldn’t, as she parried swing after swing of scythe, the blade whistling through the air with each desperate movement, hoping to catch skin, to catch flesh, to catch bone, to _kill._

“So, how’d that go?” She yelled as she bounced backward from foot to foot, dodging each strike with nimble ease, “It, uh, doesn’t really sound like it went super great!”

Barry stumbled forward, “Lup it’s--”

“It went fiiiiiiiine,” Taako interrupted, “uh, it went just as planned! We-- brotherly bonding, we did some bro bonding, we-- we fought some super spooky zombie wolves-- all together a great time!”

“Uh,” Lup parried Kravitz’s scythe with the back of her arm on the hilt, using a flaming fist to strike his chest and blow him back, “that sounds-- um, that actually sounds promising? I think?”

“We couldn’t get to the source of the Lich King’s power, and now he’s coming after us--” Barry explained.

“Kill joy.” Taako muttered.

“So we came back here to regroup-- S-shit, Lup, _watch it!_ ”

Kravitz’s form swirled to the side, and when it did, it slammed into Lup bodily where she hadn’t been prepared to defend herself. She was thrown to the floor, and after bouncing a couple of times and rolling, she collapsed.

“Fuck!” Barry dashed forward, his wand in his hand as he cast levitate on Lup with just enough time for her to get to her feet and spring away into the air, propelled by the sudden lightness--

But Kravitz could float, of course. He chased her through the air and their battle began again, this time with less leverage on Lup’s side.

“Well, fuck--” Lup snarled, using the crumbling ballroom wall to spring away from a blow that tore the side of her cloak apart, only just missing her skin, “what do I do about King Nasty here now!?”

“Oh, that’s not the Lich King,” Taako was tapping his lips thoughtfully as he approached, “that’s just Kravitz.”

“What the ever-loving hell does that mean!?” Lup twirled in the air and away from Kravitz, shooting fireballs at him, which burst into his form but were snuffed out by his rapid movements after her, “Taako, come _on!_ Kravitz? Who the fuck is _KRAVITZ?”_

In her exasperation, Kravitz caught up to her-- before she could speak another word, she was slammed bodily into the wall, the blunt end of Kravitz’s scythe pressed into her throat. She struggled and squirmed against the cold metal cutting off her air supply, and Kravitz’s fanged maw opened in delight at the sight.

“LUP!” Barry yelled, dashing toward the two.

And as Barry ran off, Taako decided that he had enough of this. The only way to end it was to free Kravitz from Felix’s hold, right? And there was more than one way to skin a fuckin’ cat.

Taako stepped into the center of the room and flourished his hands into the air with dramatic poise.

“Kravitz, well, he just so happens to be my… He’s my fuckin’ _boyfriend_ , and--”

A swirl of pink energy erupted from his outstretched fingers. It sparkled around Taako’s body, illuminating the gloom of destroyed castle around him with warmth and radiant light. Taako took one step back and swung his hands forward with all his might--

“-- he’s about to be Prince _Charmed!_ ”

 

[ ](http://nickleerie.tumblr.com)

Taako cast Charm Person.

The energy that had shimmered around Taako’s form burst forward. It struck the possessed Kravitz from behind, the rose color of the spell engulfing his twitching and raging body. He vibrated and thrashed, golden sparkles and pink hue emanating from him as the spell took hold and then all too abruptly faded away.

At first, it seemed like nothing had happened. His hold on Lup remained, the blade of his scythe pressed ever tightly into her quivering throat as Barry and Taako watched from the ground in wonder, in wait.

And then… Kravitz’s head quirked.

“What’s--” His voice was weak, barely a whisper over the torrent of energy tearing the room apart, “what’s going… what’s--”

Kravitz lowered his scythe, and Lup slid down the wall a bit and away from him, her own expression bewildered as this great, hulking skeleton man looked so innocently confounded by the sight of her.

“Lup?” He asked uneasily, “Lup… yeah, you’re… you’re definitely Lup-- How are you here..? How…” His head turned, and he gazed down upon a human man, but he wasn’t important right then.

Because standing in the center of the room, a cheeky grin stretched across his lips, still shimmering in ethereal, pink glow, was _Taako._

His Taako.

Kravitz hovered in shock, watching Taako, the crimson glow of his gaze returning to his hollowed out eyes. Gracefully, he drifted to the ground, to him, his skeletal hands outstretched to cup Taako’s cheeks.

“Oh, Taako…” He began, wistful fondness coloring his tone.

And then, he suddenly sounded thoughtful, confused, uncertain, “... Taako?”

And finally, the realization that Taako had directly defied his request to run away, and had, for some reason, decided to come waltzing back into the hands of doom and the epicenter of chaos struck him.

“ _Taako_.” His voice was a firm, frustrated snap, fingers tightening on his face.

“You have _GOT_ to be fucking _KIDDING ME right now!”_ Lup kicked off of the wall as hard as she could, flying down to the ground where she landed with a sharp skid of boots on marble, “You-- You-- Taako, you romanced the bag of bones that tried to _kill both of us!?_ ”

“Well,” Taako cleared his throat, “um-- it was, to be fair-- um--”

Kravitz relaxed his hold on Taako’s face and intervened, “It, uh, was a little bit of romancin’ from both sides, I reckon, really, like--”

“Yeah! Yeah-- uh, sort of a combined effort--”

“We sort of, it was, we romanced each other--”

“Yeah like, it just happened! Sort of just, like, poof, there it is!”

As the two of them stammered, Lup placed her hands on her hips impatiently, “That’s why you didn’t want to admit why you wanted to come back? Jeeze, Taako, if-- if you’d told me you were coming back for shmoopy woopy romance, I-- honestly, that’s all you had to say, Taako!”

“You would have punched me!” Taako exclaimed, “and I wasn’t in the mood to hear it from you! Or to be punched!”

Barry ran to meet them as Lup slammed into the ground, and he immediately began to assess her for wounds, “You good? He didn’t get you, right?”

“Besides,” Taako drawled, leaning on Kravitz and languidly pointing, “like you’ve got room to talk, there… Lup.”

“Hey, I got nothin’ to hide,” she slapped an arm around Barry’s shoulder and he froze, color rising to his cheeks.

“L-Lup I--”

“Shhhh, Barold, let it happen…” Lup smooched his cheek, effectively disabling any semblance of a response he could have attempted to make.

Kravitz slid his arms around Taako and shook his head, “You’re a fool.”

“I mean, obviously, like, that’s just a character trait my man--”

“You… truly, you came back here for me..?”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t because I was interested in fighting a dickbag lich or whatever,” Taako shrugged.

As if on cue, Taako’s words were punctuated by the ground beneath them buckling with the force of a loud crash.

Cacophonous roaring followed the explosive sound as the ground near them began to shred apart. From below the ballroom tore through a set of claws, followed by the hulking, twisting shoulders of the great beast that was King Felix, his fanged jaws tearing marble apart as he hauled himself out of the crumbling mess of ballroom floor. Tendrils of dark energy swirled around his being as he stood before them now, his chest beating bright red with the aspect of the raven queen hidden deep inside.

Kravitz, Taako, Lup and Barry stared in resolution at the beast before them as it chuckled.

_‘Four little souls, all mine for the taking. You won’t stand in my way for very long.’_

Lup glanced between the four of them and the monster before them, “Well, that answers my question from before, Barry.”

“How do you mean?” Barry answered, voice small before the horror in front of them.

“That thing definitely has an ass.” Lup slammed her fist into her palm, “And we’re about to fucking kick it.”


End file.
